The Sizes and Kinematic Structure of Absorption Systems Towards the Lensed Quasar APM08279+5255

Abstract

We have obtained spatially resolved spectra of the z=3.911 triply imaged QSO APM08279+5255 using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We study the line of sight equivalent width (EW) differences and velocity shear of high and low ionization absorbers (including a damped Lyman alpha [DLA] system identified in a spatially unresolved ground based spectrum) in the three lines of sight. We find that high ionization systems (primarily CIV absorbers) do not exhibit strong EW variations on scales <0.4 kpc; their fractional EW differences are typically less than 30%. When combined with previous work on other QSO pairs, we find that the fractional variation increases steadily with separation out to at least ~100 kpc. Conversely, low ionization systems (primarily MgII absorbers) show strong variations (often > 80%) over kpc scales. A minimum radius for strong (EW > 0.3 A) MgII systems of > 1.4 kpc is inferred from absorption coincidences in all lines of sight. For weak MgII absorbers (EW < 0.3 A), a maximum likelihood analysis indicates a most probable coherence scale of 2.0 kpc for a uniform spherical geometry, with 95% confidence limits ranging between 1.5 and 4.4 kpc. Finally, for systems with weak absorption that can be confidently converted to column densities, we find constant N(CIV)/N(SiIV) across the three lines of sight. Similarly, the [Al/Fe] ratios in the z = 2.974 DLA are consistent with solar relative abundances over a transverse distance of \~0.35 kpc. (abrdiged)