Modeling the distribution of Mg II absorbers around galaxies using background galaxies and quasars

Abstract

We present joint constraints on the distribution of Mg II absorption around high redshift galaxies obtained by combining two orthogonal probes, the integrated Mg II absorption seen in stacked background galaxy spectra and the distribution of parent galaxies of individual strong Mg II systems as seen in the spectra of background quasars. We present a suite of models that can be used to predict, for different two- and three-dimensional distributions, how the projected Mg II absorption will depend on a galaxy's apparent inclination, the impact parameter b and the azimuthal angle between the projected vector to the line of sight and the projected minor axis. In general, we find that variations in the absorption strength with azimuthal angles provide much stronger constraints on the intrinsic geometry of the Mg II absorption than the dependence on the inclination of the galaxies. In addition to the clear azimuthal dependence in the integrated Mg II absorption that we reported earlier in Bordoloi et al., we show that strong equivalent width Mg II absorbers (Wr (2796) ≥ 0.3 Å) are also asymmetrically distributed in azimuth around their host galaxies: 72% of the absorbers in Kacprzak et al., and 100% of the close-in absorbers within 35 kpc of the center of their host galaxies, are located within 50° of the host galaxy's projected semi minor axis. It is shown that either composite models consisting of a simple bipolar component plus a spherical or disk component, or a single highly softened bipolar distribution, can well represent the azimuthal dependencies observed in both the stacked spectrum and quasar absorption-line data sets within 40 kpc. Simultaneously fitting both data sets, we find that in the composite model the bipolar cone has an opening angle of 100° (i.e., confined to within 50° of the disk axis) and contains about two-thirds of the total Mg II absorption in the system. The single softened cone model has an exponential fall off with azimuthal angle with an exponential scale length in opening angle of about 45°. We conclude that the distribution of Mg II gas at low impact parameters is not the same as that found at high impact parameters. At larger impact parameters beyond 40 kpc, there is evidence for a much more symmetric distribution, significantly different from that closer in to the galaxies. © 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.