Drastic changes in the molecular absorption at redshift z=0.89 toward the quasar PKS 1830-211

Abstract

A 12 year-long monitoring of the absorption caused by a z=0.89 spiral galaxy on the line of sight to the radio-loud gravitationally lensed quasar PKS 1830-211 reveals spectacular changes in the HCO+ and HCN (2-1) line profiles. The depth of the absorption toward the quasar NE image increased by a factor of ~3 in 1998-1999 and subsequently decreased by a factor >=6 between 2003 and 2006. These changes were echoed by similar variations in the absorption line wings toward the SW image. Most likely, these variations result from a motion of the quasar images with respect to the foreground galaxy, which could be due to a sporadic ejection of bright plasmons by the background quasar. VLBA observations have shown that the separation between the NE and SW images changed in 1997 by as much as 0.2 mas within a few months. Assuming that motions of similar amplitude occurred in 1999 and 2003, we argue that the clouds responsible for the NE absorption and the broad wings of the SW absorption should be sparse and have characteristic sizes of 0.5-1 pc.

accepted for publication in A&A

References in corpus (19)

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Cited by in corpus (40)

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• Robust Constraint on a Drifting Proton-to-Electron Mass Ratio at z=0.89 from Methanol Observation at Three Radio Telescopes
• The density, the cosmic microwave background, and the proton-to-electron mass ratio in a cloud at redshift 0.9
• The ALMA Phasing System: A Beamforming Capability for Ultra-High-Resolution Science at (Sub)Millimeter Wavelengths
• An ALMA Early Science survey of molecular absorption lines toward PKS1830-211 -- Analysis of the absorption profiles
• Detection of extragalactic argonium, ArH${}^{+}$, toward PKS~1830$-$211
• Gamma-ray flaring activity from the gravitationally lensed blazar PKS 1830-211 observed by Fermi LAT
• Constraints on changes in the proton-electron mass ratio using methanol lines
• Search for a drifting proton--electron mass ratio from H${}_2$
• Probing the jet base of the blazar PKS1830-211 from the chromatic variability of its lensed images. Serendipitous ALMA observations of a strong gamma-ray flare
• Illuminating the past 8 billion years of cold gas towards two gravitationally lensed quasars
• Detection of chloronium and measurement of the 35Cl/37Cl isotopic ratio at z=0.89 toward PKS1830-211
• OH+ and H2O+ absorption toward PKS1830-211
• First cosmological constraints on the proton-to-electron mass ratio from observations of rotational transitions of methanol
• Blind HI and OH absorption line search: first results with MALS and uGMRT processed using ARTIP
• New molecular species at redshift z=0.89
• Detection of CH+, SH+, and their 13C- and 34S- isotopologues toward PKS1830-211
• Detection of extragalactic CF+ toward PKS1830-211 -- Chemical differentiation in the absorbing gas
• A study of submillimeter methanol absorption toward PKS1830-211: Excitation, invariance of the proton-electron mass ratio, and systematics
• Chlorine-bearing molecules in molecular absorbers at intermediate redshifts
• PKS1830-211: OH and HI at z=0.89 and the first MeerKAT UHF spectrum
• All good things come in threes: the third image of the lensed quasar PKS1830-211
• Isotopic ratios at z=0.68 from molecular absorption lines toward B 0218+357
• Interstellar Silicate Dust in the z=0.89 Absorber Towards PKS 1830-211: Crystalline Silicates at High Redshift?
• Does absorption against AGN reveal supermassive black hole accretion?
• The inhomogeneous ISM toward PKS1830-211 SW - A detailed view on molecular gas at a look-back time of 7.5 Gyr
• The Search for Extragalactic Lithium Hydride
• Detection of CI in absorption towards PKS 1830-211 with the eSMA
• Detection of deuterated molecules, but not of lithium hydride, in the z=0.89 absorber toward PKS1830-211
• Cosmo-tomography toward PKS1830-211: Variability of the quasar and of its foreground molecular absorption monitored with ALMA
• On Measuring the CMB Temperature at Redshift 0.89
• Methanol absorption in PKS B1830-211 at milliarcsecond scales
• A new constraint on the molecular oxygen abundance at $z\sim 0.886$
• Discovery of Hydrogen Radio Recombination Lines at z=0.89 towards PKS 1830-211
• Emergence of a new HI 21-cm absorption component at z~1.1726 towards the gamma-ray blazar PKS~2355-106
• A sub-ppm upper limit on the cosmological variations of the fine structure constant alpha
• New constraints on the values of the fundamental constants at a look-back time of 7.3 Gyr
• An improved time delay from VLA and ATCA monitoring of the gravitational lens system PKS 1830-211