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Register a new userUsing the Properties of Broad Absorption Line Quasars to Illuminate Quasar Structure
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A key to understanding quasar unification paradigms is the emission properties of broad absorption line quasars (BALQs). The fact that only a small fraction of quasar spectra exhibit deep absorption troughs blueward of the broad permitted emission lines provides a crucial clue to the structure of quasar emitting regions. To learn whether it is possible to discriminate between the BALQ and non-BALQ populations given the observed spectral properties of a quasar, we employ two approaches: one based on statistical methods and the other supervised machine learning classification, applied to quasar samples from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The features explored include continuum and emission line properties, in particular the absolute magnitude, redshift, spectral index, line width, asymmetry, strength, and relative velocity offsets of high-ionisation CIV $lambda 1549$ and low-ionisation MgII $lambda 2798$ lines. We consider a complete population of quasars, and assume that the statistical distributions of properties represent all angles where the quasar is viewed without obscuration. The distributions of the BALQ and non-BALQ sample properties show few significant differences. None of the observed continuum and emission line features are capable of differentiating between the two samples. Most published narrow disk-wind models are inconsistent with these observations, and an alternative disk-wind model is proposed. The key feature of the proposed model is a disk-wind filling a wide opening angle with multiple radial streams of dense clumps.
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Broad absorption lines (BALs) in quasar spectra identify high velocity outflows that might exist in all quasars and could play a major role in feedback to galaxy evolution. The viability of BAL outflows as a feedback mechanism depends on their kinetic energies, as derived from the outflow velocities, column densities, and distances from the central quasar. We estimate these quantities for the quasar, Q1413+1143 (redshift $z_e = 2.56$), aided by the first detection of PV $lambdalambda$1118,1128 BAL variability in a quasar. In particular, PV absorption at velocities where the CIV trough does not reach zero intensity implies that the CIV BAL is saturated and the absorber only partially covers the background continuum source (with characteristic size <0.01 pc). With the assumption of solar abundances, we estimate that the total column density in the BAL outflow is log N_H > 22.3 (cm^-2). Variability in the PV and saturated CIV BALs strongly disfavors changes in the ionization as the cause of the BAL variability, but supports models with high-column density BAL clouds moving across our lines of sight. The observed variability time of 1.6 yr in the quasar rest frame indicates crossing speeds >750 km/s and a radial distance from the central black hole of <3.5 pc, if the crossing speeds are Keplerian. The total outflow mass is ~4100 M_solar, the kinetic energy ~4x10^54 erg, and the ratio of the outflow kinetic energy luminosity to the quasar bolometric luminosity is ~0.02 (at the minimum column density and maximum distance), which might be sufficient for important feedback to the quasars host galaxy.
We consider whether Broad Absorption Line Quasars (BAL QSOs) and Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) are similar, as suggested by Brandt & Gallagher (2000) and Boroson (2002). For this purpose we constructed a sample of 11 BAL QSOs from existing Chandra and Swift observations. We found that BAL QSOs and NLS1s both operate at high Eddington ratios L/Ledd, although BAL QSOs have slightly lower L/Ledd. BAL QSOs and NLS1s in general have high FeII/H$beta$ and low [OIII]/H$beta$ ratios following the classic Boroson & Green eigenvector 1 relation. We also found that the mass accretion rates $dot{M}$ of BAL QSOs and NLS1s are more similar than previously thought, although some BAL QSOs exhibit extreme mass accretion rates of more than 10 msun/year. These extreme mass accretion rates may suggest that the black holes in BAL QSOs are relativistically spinning. Black hole masses in BAL QSOs are a factor of 100 larger than NLS1s. From their location on a M-$sigma$ plot, we find that BAL QSOs contain fully developed black holes. Applying a principal component analysis to our sample we find eigenvector 1 to correspond to the Eddington ratio L/Ledd, and eigenvector 2 to black hole mass.
We present the results of an optical photometric monitoring program of 10 extremely radio loud broad absorption line quasars (RL-BALQSOs) with radio-loudness parameter, R, greater than 100 and magnitude g_i < 19. Over an observing run of about 3.5-6.5 hour we found a clear detection of variability for one of our 10 radio-loud BALQSOs with the INOV duty cycle of 5.1 per cent, while on including the probable variable cases, a higher duty cycle of 35.1 per cent is found; which are very similar to the duty cycle of radio quiet broad absorption line quasars (RQ-BALQSOs). This low duty cycle of clear variability per cent in radio-loud sub-class of BALQSOs can be understood under the premise where BALs outflow may arise from large variety of viewing angles from the jet axis or perhaps being closer to the disc plane.
Quasar outflows carry mass, momentum and energy into the surrounding environment, and have long been considered a potential key factor in regulating the growth of supermassive black holes and the evolution of their host galaxies. A crucial parameter for understanding the origin of these outflows and measuring their influence on their host galaxies is the distance (R) between the outflow gas and the galaxy center. While R has been measured in a number of individual galaxies, its distribution remains unknown. Here we report the distributions of R and the kinetic luminosities of quasars outflows, using the statistical properties of broad absorption line variability in a sample of 915 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys. The mean and standard deviation of the distribution of R are 10^{1.4+/-0.5} parsecs. The typical outflow distance in this sample is tens of parsec, which is beyond the theoretically predicted location (0.01 ~ 0.1 parsecs) where the accretion disc line-driven wind is launched, but is smaller than the scales of most outflows that are derived using the excited state absorption lines. The typical value of the mass-flow rate is of tens to a hundred solar masses per year, or several times the accretion rate. The typical kinetic-to-bolometric luminosity ratio is a few per cent, indicating that outflows are energetic enough to influence the evolution of their host galaxies.
Broad absorption lines (BALs) are present in the spectra of ~20% of quasars (QSOs); this indicates fast outflows (up to 0.2c) that intercept the observers line of sight. These QSOs can be distinguished again into radio-loud (RL) BAL QSOs and radio-quiet (RQ) BAL QSOs. The first are very rare, even four times less common than RQ BAL QSOs. The reason for this is still unclear and leaves open questions about the nature of the BAL-producing outflows and their connection with the radio jet. We explored the spectroscopic characteristics of RL and RQ BAL QSOs with the aim to find a possible explanation for the rarity of RL BAL QSOs. We identified two samples of genuine BAL QSOs from SDSS optical spectra, one RL and one RQ, in a suitable redshift interval (2.5$<z<$3.5) that allowed us to observe the Mg II and H$beta$ emission lines in the adjacent near-infrared (NIR) band. We collected NIR spectra of the two samples using the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG, Canary Islands). By using relations known in the literature, we estimated the black-hole mass, the broad-line region radius, and the Eddington ratio of our objects and compared the two samples. We found no statistically significant differences from comparing the distributions of the cited physical quantities. This indicates that they have similar geometries, accretion rates, and central black-hole masses, regardless of whether the radio-emitting jet is present or not. These results show that the central engine of BAL QSOs has the same physical properties with and without a radio jet. The reasons for the rarity of RL BAL QSOs must reside in different environmental or evolutionary variables.
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