We examine the kinematics of the gas in the environments of galaxies hosting
quasars at z ~ 2. We employ 112 projected quasar pairs to study the
circumgalactic gas of the foreground quasars in absorption. The sample selects
foreground quasars with precise redshift measurements, using emission-lines
with precision <= 300 km/s and average offsets from the systemic redshift <=
|100 km/s|. We stack the background quasar spectra at the foreground quasar's
systemic redshift to study the mean absorption in C II, C IV, and Mg II. We
find that the mean absorptions exhibit large velocity widths sigma_v > 300
km/s. The observed widths are consistent with gas in gravitational motion and
Hubble flow, and galactic-scale outflows are not be required to explain the
large widths. Furthermore, we find that the mean absorptions are asymmetric
about the systemic redshift. The mean absorption centroids exhibit small
redshift relative to the systemic delta v = +200 km/s, with large intrinsic
scatter in the centroid velocities of the individual absorption systems. We
show that the observed offsets may be produced if (i) the ionizing radiation
from the foreground quasars is anisotropic or intermittent; (ii) the gas is not
flowing into the galaxy.
Description
[1705.03476] Quasars Probing Quasars IX. The Kinematics of the Circumgalactic Medium Surrounding z ~ 2 Quasars
%0 Generic
%1 lau2017quasars
%A Lau, Marie Wingyee
%A Prochaska, J. Xavier
%A Hennawi, Joseph F.
%D 2017
%K absorption kinematics metal quasar
%T Quasars Probing Quasars IX. The Kinematics of the Circumgalactic Medium
Surrounding z ~ 2 Quasars
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1705.03476
%X We examine the kinematics of the gas in the environments of galaxies hosting
quasars at z ~ 2. We employ 112 projected quasar pairs to study the
circumgalactic gas of the foreground quasars in absorption. The sample selects
foreground quasars with precise redshift measurements, using emission-lines
with precision <= 300 km/s and average offsets from the systemic redshift <=
|100 km/s|. We stack the background quasar spectra at the foreground quasar's
systemic redshift to study the mean absorption in C II, C IV, and Mg II. We
find that the mean absorptions exhibit large velocity widths sigma_v > 300
km/s. The observed widths are consistent with gas in gravitational motion and
Hubble flow, and galactic-scale outflows are not be required to explain the
large widths. Furthermore, we find that the mean absorptions are asymmetric
about the systemic redshift. The mean absorption centroids exhibit small
redshift relative to the systemic delta v = +200 km/s, with large intrinsic
scatter in the centroid velocities of the individual absorption systems. We
show that the observed offsets may be produced if (i) the ionizing radiation
from the foreground quasars is anisotropic or intermittent; (ii) the gas is not
flowing into the galaxy.
@misc{lau2017quasars,
abstract = {We examine the kinematics of the gas in the environments of galaxies hosting
quasars at z ~ 2. We employ 112 projected quasar pairs to study the
circumgalactic gas of the foreground quasars in absorption. The sample selects
foreground quasars with precise redshift measurements, using emission-lines
with precision <= 300 km/s and average offsets from the systemic redshift <=
|100 km/s|. We stack the background quasar spectra at the foreground quasar's
systemic redshift to study the mean absorption in C II, C IV, and Mg II. We
find that the mean absorptions exhibit large velocity widths sigma_v > 300
km/s. The observed widths are consistent with gas in gravitational motion and
Hubble flow, and galactic-scale outflows are not be required to explain the
large widths. Furthermore, we find that the mean absorptions are asymmetric
about the systemic redshift. The mean absorption centroids exhibit small
redshift relative to the systemic delta v = +200 km/s, with large intrinsic
scatter in the centroid velocities of the individual absorption systems. We
show that the observed offsets may be produced if (i) the ionizing radiation
from the foreground quasars is anisotropic or intermittent; (ii) the gas is not
flowing into the galaxy.},
added-at = {2017-05-11T10:14:43.000+0200},
author = {Lau, Marie Wingyee and Prochaska, J. Xavier and Hennawi, Joseph F.},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/25db93da20118b5e58a3c4dc4dc2959e0/miki},
description = {[1705.03476] Quasars Probing Quasars IX. The Kinematics of the Circumgalactic Medium Surrounding z ~ 2 Quasars},
interhash = {47f928a8944a0856ecc8d233936120ea},
intrahash = {5db93da20118b5e58a3c4dc4dc2959e0},
keywords = {absorption kinematics metal quasar},
note = {cite arxiv:1705.03476},
timestamp = {2017-05-11T10:14:43.000+0200},
title = {Quasars Probing Quasars IX. The Kinematics of the Circumgalactic Medium
Surrounding z ~ 2 Quasars},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1705.03476},
year = 2017
}