Extended Lyman-alpha emission from a high-z DLA at z=3.115

Abstract

We searched for star formation activity associated with high-z Damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs) with Subaru telescope. We used a set of narrow-band (NB) filters whose central wavelengths correspond to the redshifted Lyman-alpha emission lines of targeted DLA absorbers at 3<z<4.5. We detected one apparent NB-excess object located 3.80 arcsec (~28kpc) away from the quasar SDSS J031036.84+005521.7. Follow-up spectroscopy revealed an asymmetric Lyman-alpha emission at z_em=3.115+/-0.003, which perfectly matches the sub-DLA trough at z_abs=3.1150 with logN(HI)/cm^-2=20.05. The Lyman-alpha luminosity is estimated to be L(LyA)=1.07x10^42 erg s^-1, which corresponds to a star formation rate of 0.97 M_\odot yr^-1. Interestingly, the detected Lyman-alpha emission is spatially extended with a sharp peak. The large extent of the Lyman-alpha emission is remarkably one-sided toward the quasar line-of-sight, and is redshifted. The observed spatially asymmetric surface brightness profile can be qualitatively explained by a model of a DLA host galaxy, assuming a galactic outflow and a clumpy distribution of HI clouds in the circumgalactic medium. This large Lyman-alpha extension, which is similar to those found in Rauch et al. (2008), could be the result of complicated anisotropic radiative transfer through the surrounding neutral gas embedded in the DLA.

9 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

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