Abstract
We present spatially resolved spectropolarimetic measurements of the 100-kpc
scale gaseous environment of the z=2.34 radio galaxy TXS 0211-122. The
polarization level of the narrow Ly-alpha emission is low centrally (P<5 %),
but rises to P=16.4+/-4.6 % in the Eastern part of the nebula, indicating that
the nebula is at least partly powered by the scattering of Ly-alpha photons by
HI. Not only is this the first detection of polarized Ly-alpha around a
radio-loud active galaxy, it is also the second detection to date for any kind
of Ly-alpha nebula. We also detect a pair of diametrically opposed UV continuum
sources along the slit, at the outer edges of the Ly-alpha nebula, which we
suggest may be the limb of a dusty shell, related to the large-scale HI
absorbers often associated with high-z radio galaxies.
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