Probing coherence in metal absorption towards multiple images of strong gravitationally lensed quasars

We present a tomographic analysis of metal absorption lines arising from the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of galaxies at z ≈ 0.5–2, using Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) observations of two background quasars at z ≈ 2.2 and 2.8, which are two of the few currently known quasars with multiple images due to strong gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters at z ≈ 0.6 and 0.5, respectively. The angular separations between different pairs of quasar multiple images enable us to probe the absorption over transverse physical separations of ≈0.4–150 kpc, which are based on strong lensing models exploiting MUSE observations. The fractional difference in rest-frame equivalent width (ΔWr) of Mg II, Fe II, and C IV absorption increases on average with physical separation, indicating that the metal-enriched gaseous structures become less coherent with distance, with a likely coherence length-scale of ≈10 kpc. However, ΔWr for all the ions vary considerably over ≈0.08–0.9, indicating a clumpy CGM over the full range of length-scales probed. At the same time, paired Mg II absorption is detected across ≈100–150 kpc at similar line-of-sight velocities, which could be probing cool gas clouds within the same halo. No significant dependence of ΔWr is found on the equivalent width and redshift of the absorbing gas and on the galaxy environment associated with the absorption. The high-ionization gas phase traced by C IV shows a higher degree of coherence than the low-ionization gas phase traced by Mg II, with ≈90 per cent of C IV systems exhibiting ΔWr ≤ 0.5 at separations ≤10 kpc compared to ≈50 per cent of Mg II systems.