A giant Lyα nebula and a small-scale clumpy outflow in the system of the exotic quasar J0952+0114 unveiled by MUSE
MUSE reveals a giant Lyα nebula around an exotic quasar, and its emission lines hint that the absorber comes from a clumpy outflow.
What was found
- A giant Lyα nebula about 100 physical kpc across surrounds the quasar.
- Its velocity and surface brightness profiles resemble those of other quasar nebulae observed with MUSE, which suggests that the damped Lyα absorber covers only a small fraction of the quasar’s emitting region.
- Bright, narrow C IV and He II emission extends around the quasar with velocities matching the Lyα peak, and the line ratios rise with distance, which points to uneven ionisation.
- A compact, unusually bright He II component at the redshift of the absorber suggests that the absorber may come from a clumpy outflow moving at about 500 km/s, with the fastest gas confined to the central region.
This summary is written for a general audience. The paper has the full details.
Cite this paper
Marino, R. A., et al. 2019, ApJ, 880, 47, doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab2881
@article{marino2019,
author = {Marino, R. A. and others},
title = {{A giant Lyα nebula and a small-scale clumpy outflow in the system of the exotic quasar J0952+0114 unveiled by MUSE}},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
year = {2019},
volume = {880},
pages = {47},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ab2881},
eprint = {1906.06347},
archivePrefix = {arXiv}
}