A new HI 21 centimeter absorber associated with the HI deficient interacting galaxies G0248+430

We present high-resolution (similar to2) H I 21 cm and CO(1 - 0) observations of the quasar (QSO) galaxy pair 0248+430. The QSO Q0248+430 (z(em) = 1.313) has been found to show two metal absorption-line systems at redshifts z(a) similar to 0.052, which are consistent with the redshift of a foreground luminous infrared galaxy 15 (similar to11 h(-1) kpc) away. In our observations, the CO emission of this foreground galaxy, G0248+430, shows broad velocity distribution (similar to173 km s(-1)) but is spatially confined to a small unresolved region less than 1.5 x 1.5 h(-1) kpc; the H-2 mass based on the traditional conversion factor is approximate to10(10) M-., which is approximately 30 times the H-2 mass within a similar region of the Milky Way. On the other hand, no significant H I 21 cm emission is found in the foreground galaxy; the mass of the neutral atomic hydrogen is less than 6 x 10(8) M-.. Toward the QSO we discover a new H I 21 cm absorber with integral tau dv similar to 0.26 km s(-1) at the redshift of one of the metal absorption components; however, we did not detect significant CO( 1 - 0) absorption toward the QSO. The H I column density is large enough for the absorber to be classified as a damped Lyalpha system. We also derive the H I mass and spin temperature for this metal-line absorption system. We discuss the relation of this H I absorber and the depletion of the H I in the foreground galaxy. We find that this H I absorber has very high metal abundance and is intrinsically different from the normal damped Lyalpha absorption systems, although both have similar spin temperatures and hydrogen column densities.