2020A&A...635A.157T

Context. In recent years, Lyα nebulae have been routinely detected around high redshift, radio-quiet quasars thanks to the advent of the highly sensitive integral field spectrographs. Constraining the physical properties of the Lyα nebulae is crucial for a full understanding of the circum-galactic medium (CGM). The CGM acts both as a repository for intergalactic and galactic baryons as well as a venue of feeding and feedback processes. The most luminous quasars are privileged test-beds to study these processes, given their large ionising fluxes and dense CGM environments in which they are expected to be embedded.
Aims. We aim to characterise the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV) emission lines in the CGM around a hyper-luminous, broad emission line, radio-quiet quasar at z∼3.6, which exhibits powerful outflows at both nuclear and host galaxy scales.
Methods. We analyse VLT/MUSE observations of the quasar J1538+08 (L_bol=6x10⁴⁷erg/s), and we performed a search for extended UV emission lines to characterise its morphology, emissivity, kinematics, and metal content.
Results. We report the discovery of a very luminous (∼2x10⁴⁴erg/s), giant Lyα nebula and a likely associated extended (75kpc) CIV nebula. The Lyα nebula emission exhibits moderate blueshift (∼440km/s) compared to the quasar systemic redshift and a large average velocity dispersion (σv{bar}∼700km/s) across the nebula, while the CIV nebula shows average velocity dispersion of σv{bar}∼350km/s. The Lyα line profile exhibits a significant asymmetry towards negative velocity values at 20-30 kpc south of the quasar and is well parametrised by the following two Gaussian components: a narrow (σ∼470km/s) systemic one plus a broad (σ∼1200km/s), blueshifted (∼1500km/s) one.
Conclusions. Our analysis of the MUSE observation of J1538+08 reveals metal-enriched CGM around this hyper-luminous quasar. Furthermore, our detection of blueshifted emission in the emission profile of the Lyα nebula suggests that powerful nuclear outflows can propagate through the CGM over tens of kiloparsecs.