The redshifted hydrogen balmer and metastable He I absorption line system in mini-felobal quasar SDSS J112526.12+002901.3: a parsec-scale accretion inflow?

The accretion of the interstellar medium onto central super-massive black holes is widely accepted as the source of the gigantic energy released by the active galactic nuclei. However, few pieces of observational evidence have been confirmed directly demonstrating the existence of the inflows. The absorption line system in the spectra of quasar SDSS J112526.12+002901.3 presents an interesting example in which the rarely detected hydrogen Balmer and metastable He i absorption lines are found redshifted to the quasar's rest frame along with the low-ionization metal absorption lines Mg ii, Fe ii, etc. The repeated SDSS spectroscopic observations suggest a transverse velocity smaller than the radial velocity. The motion of the absorbing medium is thus dominated by infall. The He i* lines present a powerful probe to the strength of ionizing flux, while the Balmer lines imply a dense environment. With the help of photoionization simulations, we find that the absorbing medium is exposed to the radiation with ionization parameter U ≈ 10^−1.8, and the density is $n\left(H\right)\approx {10}^9{cm}^{-3}$. Thus the absorbing medium is located ∼4 pc away from the central engine. According to the similarity in the distance and physical conditions between the absorbing medium and the torus, we strongly propose the absorption line system as a candidate for the accretion inflow, which originates in the inner surface of the torus.