We present multi-sightline absorption spectroscopy of cool gas around three lensing galaxies at z = 0.4 - 0.7 .
These lenses have half-light radii r _ { e } = 2.6 - 8 kpc and stellar masses of \log M _ { * } / M _ { \odot } = 10.9 - 11.4 , and therefore resemble nearby passive elliptical galaxies .
The lensed QSO sightlines presented here occur at projected distances of d = 3 - 15 kpc ( or d \approx 1 - 2 r _ { e } ) from the lensing galaxies , providing for the first time an opportunity to probe both interstellar gas at r \sim r _ { e } and circumgalactic gas at larger radii r \gg r _ { e } of these distant quiescent galaxies .
We observe distinct gas absorption properties among different lenses and among sightlines of individual lenses .
Specifically , while the quadruple lens for HE 0435 - 1223 shows no absorption features to very sensitive limits along all four sightlines , strong Mg II , Fe II , Mg I , and Ca II absorption transitions are detected along both sightlines near the double lens for HE 0047 - 1756 , and in one of the two sightlines near the double lens for HE 1104 - 1805 .
The absorbers are resolved into 8 - 15 individual components with a line-of-sight velocity spread of \Delta v \approx 300 - 600 km s { { } ^ { -1 } } .
The large ionic column densities , \log N\ > ^ { > } _ { \sim } \ > 14 , observed in two components suggest that these may be Lyman limit or damped { Ly } \alpha absorbers with a significant neutral hydrogen fraction .
The majority of the absorbing components exhibit a uniform super solar Fe/Mg ratio with a scatter of < 0.1 dex across the full \Delta v range .
Given a predominantly old stellar population in these lensing galaxies , we argue that the observed large velocity width and Fe-rich abundance pattern can be explained by SNe Ia enriched gas at radius r \sim r _ { e } .
We show that additional spatial constraints in line-of-sight velocity and relative abundance ratios afforded by a multi-sightline approach provide a powerful tool to resolve the origin of chemically-enriched cool gas in massive halos .