Strong Lyα Emission in the Proximate Damped Lyα Absorption Trough toward the Quasar SDSS J095253.83+011422.0

Abstract

SDSS J095253.83+011422.0 (J0952+0114) was reported by Hall et al. as an exotic quasar at z_em = 3.020. In contrast to prominent broad metal-line emission with FWHM ∼ 9000 km s^-1, only a narrow Lyα emission line is present with FWHM ∼ 1000 km s^-1. The absence of a broad Lyα emission line has been a mystery for more than a decade. In this paper, we demonstrate that this absence is due to dark proximate damped Lyα absorption (PDLA) at z_abs = 3.010 by identifying associated Lyman absorption line series from the damped Lyβ up to Ly9, as well as the Lyman limit absorption edge. The PDLA cloud has a column density of {log}{N}_{{H}{{I}}}({{{cm}}}^-2)=21.8+/- 0.2, a metallicity of [Zn/H] > -1.0, and a spatial extent exceeding the narrow emission line region (NELR) of the quasar. With a luminosity of {L}_{{Ly}α }∼ {10}⁴⁵ erg s^-1, the residual Lyα emission superposed on the PDLA trough is two orders of magnitude stronger than found by previous reports. This is best explained as re-radiated photons arising from the quasar outflowing gas on a larger scale than in the NELR. The PDLA here, acting like a natural coronagraph, provides us with valuable insight into the illuminated gases in the vicinity of the quasar, which are usually hard to resolve due to their small size and the “seeing fuzz” of bright quasars. Notably, J0952+0114 analogs might be easily omitted in the spectroscopic surveys of DLAs and PDLAs because their damped Lyα troughs can be fully filled by additional strong Lyα emissions. Our preliminary survey shows that such systems are not very rare. They could potentially be a unique sample for probing strong quasar feedback phenomena in the early universe.