Kinematics and star formation activity in the z abs = 2.03954 damped Lyman-α system towards PKS 0458-020

We present UVES observations of the log N(H i) = 21.7 damped Lyman-α system at zabs = 2.03954 towards the quasar PKS 0458−020. H i Lyman-α emission is detected in the center of the damped Lyman-α absorption trough. Metallicities are derived for Mg ii ,S iii ,P ii ,C rii, Mn ii ,F eii and Zn ii and are found to be −1.21 ± 0.12, −1.28 ± 0.20, −1.54 ± 0.11, −1.66 ± 0.10, −2.05 ± 0.11, −1.87 ± 0.11, −1.22 ± 0.10, respectively, relative to solar. The depletion factor is therefore of the order of [Zn/Fe] = 0.65. We observe metal absorption lines to be blueshifted compared to the Lyman-α emission up to a maximum of ∼100 and 200 km s −1 for low and high-ionization species respectively. This can be interpreted either as the consequence of rotation in a large (∼7 kpc) disk or as the imprint of a galactic wind. The star formation rate (SFR) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...