Staring at the Shadows of Archaic Galaxies: Damped Ly$\alpha$ and Metal Absorbers toward a Young $z \sim 6$ Weak-line Quasar

TL;DR

This study investigates a high-redshift weak-line quasar at z=6.34, revealing a proximate sub-DLA system and metal absorbers, but no Lyα halo, suggesting it is a young quasar with a short accretion history.

Contribution

First detailed analysis of the Lyα halo and absorption systems of a z~6 weak-line quasar, combining multiple observational data to characterize its environment and properties.

Findings

Detection of a proximate sub-DLA at z=6.314 with specific metallicity and abundance ratios.

Absence of a Lyα halo around the quasar, consistent with a young, short-lived quasar scenario.

Modeling indicates the intergalactic medium has a neutral fraction of about 10%.

Abstract

We characterize the Ly$\alpha$ halo and absorption systems toward PSO J083+11, a unique $z=6.3401$ weak-line quasar, using Gemini/GNIRS, Magellan/FIRE, and VLT/MUSE data. Strong absorptions by hydrogen and several metal lines (e.g., CII, MgII, and OI) are discovered in the spectrum, which indicates the presence of: (i) a proximate sub-damped Ly$\alpha$ (sub-DLA) system at $z=6.314$ and (ii) a MgII absorber at $z=2.2305$. To describe the observed damping wing signal, we model the Ly$\alpha$ absorption with a combination of a sub-DLA with the neutral hydrogen column density of $\log N_\mathrm{HI} = 20.03 \pm 0.30$ cm$^{-2}$ and absorption from the intergalactic medium with a neutral fraction of around 10 percent. The sub-DLA toward PSO J083+11 has an abundance ratio of [C/O] $=-0.04 \pm 0.33$ and metallicity of [O/H] $=-2.19 \pm 0.44$, similar to those of low-redshift metal-poor DLAs. These measurements suggest that the sub-DLA might truncate PSO J083+11's proximity zone size and complicate the quasar lifetime measurement. However, this quasar shows no sign of a Ly$\alpha$ halo in the MUSE data cube, where the estimated $1\sigma$ limit of surface brightness is $2.76 \times 10^{-18}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ arcsec$^{-2}$ at aperture size of 1 arcsecond, or equivalent to a Ly$\alpha$ luminosity of $\leq 43.46$ erg s$^{-1}$. This non-detection, while being only weak independent evidence on its own, is at least consistent with a young quasar scenario, as expected for a quasar with a short accretion timescale.