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Related papers: Quasar emission lines as probes of orientation: im…

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We report spectropolarimetry of 30 radio-selected broad absorption line (BAL) quasars with the Keck Observatory, 25 from the sample of Becker et al. (2000). Both high and low-ionization BAL quasars are represented, with redshifts ranging…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-19 M. A. DiPompeo , M. S. Brotherton , R. H. Becker , H. D. Tran , M. D. Gregg , R. L. White , S. A. Laurent-Muehleisen

We investigated a scenario where the presence of a broad absorption line (BAL) feature in quasars (QSOs) is contingent upon the line of sight being situated within an outflow cone emanating from the source. We examined the mechanism of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-11-20 M. Sniegowska , M. H. Naddaf , M. L. Martinez-Aldama , P. Marziani , S. Panda , B. Czerny

Roughly 10% of all quasars exhibit Broad Absorption Line (BAL) features which appear to arise in material outflowing at high velocity from the active galactic nucleus (AGN). The details of this outflow are, however, very poorly constrained…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-10-31 Kunegunda E. Belle , Geraint F. Lewis

Studies of radio-loud (RL) broad absorption line (BAL) quasars indicate that popular orientation-based BAL models fail to account for all observations. Are these results extendable to radio-quiet (RQ) BAL quasars? Comparisons of RL and RQ…

Quasar accretion disk winds observed via broad absorption lines (BALs) in the UV produce strong continuous absorption in X-rays. The X-ray absorber is believed to serve critically as a radiative shield to enable radiative driving. However,…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-16 Fred Hamann , George Chartas , Sean McGraw , Paola Rodriguez Hidalgo , Joseph Shields , Daniel Capellupo , Jane Charlton , Michael Eracleous

The results of a sub-millimeter survey of SDSS broad CIV absorption line quasars is discussed. It is found that the sub-millimeter flux distribution of BAL quasars is similar to that of non-BAL quasars. This is consistent with the idea that…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 Chris J. Willott , Steve Rawlings , Jennifer A. Grimes

We test a scenario claiming that the broad absorption line (BAL) phenomenon in quasars (QSOs) is not a temporary stage of their life. In this scenario, we see the BAL effect only if the line of sight is within a spatially limited and…

Correlations in and with the flux transmission of the Lyman$-\alpha$ (Ly$\alpha$) forest in the spectra of high-redshift quasars are powerful cosmological tools, yet these measurements can be compromised if the intrinsic quasar continuum is…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2022-12-07 Lauren Ennesser , Paul Martini , Andreu Font-Ribera , Ignasi Pérez-Ràfols

We review recent results on quasars from the SDSS as they relate to our understanding of the UV/optical continuum, the broad emission line region, and the broad absorption line region. The ensemble average colors of large numbers of quasars…

Broad absorption lines (BALs) in quasar spectra are prominent signatures of high-velocity outflows, which might be present in all quasars and could be a major contributor to feedback to galaxy evolution. Studying the variability in these…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-12 Daniel M. Capellupo , Fred Hamann , Joseph C. Shields , Jules P. Halpern , Tom A. Barlow

We present a spectropolarimetric survey of 36 broad absorption line quasi-stellar objects (BAL QSOs). The continuum, absorption trough, and emission line polarization of BAL QSOs yield clues about their structure. We confirm that BAL QSOs…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-10-31 P. M. Ogle , M. H. Cohen , J. S. Miller , H. D. Tran , R. W. Goodrich , A. R. Martel

We present a new set of 84 Broad absorption line (BAL) quasars ( 1.7 $<$ \zem $<$ 4.4) exhibiting an appearance of \civ BAL troughs over 0.3$-$4.8 rest-frame years by comparing the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release (SDSSDR)-7,…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-04-07 Sapna Mishra , M. Vivek , Hum Chand , Ravi Joshi

We use quantitative metrics to characterize the variation of CIV 1549 A broad absorption lines (BALs) over 3--6 (rest-frame) years in a sample of 13 quasars at 1.7 <= z <= 2.8 and compare the results to previous studies of BAL variability…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-13 Robert R. Gibson , W. N. Brandt , Donald P. Schneider , S. C. Gallagher

Luminous quasars are powerful targets to investigate the role of feedback from supermassive black-holes (BHs) in regulating the growth phases of BHs themselves and of their host galaxies, up to the highest redshifts. Here we investigate the…

The variability of quasar radiation provides a powerful probe of the photoionization response of ionized gas, which plays a central role in tracing cosmic evolution and plasma physics under extreme conditions. In this work, we investigate…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-11-26 Zhicheng He , Tinggui Wang

Broad absorption line (BAL) quasars exhibit significant outflows, offering insights into active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback. While typically associated with high Eddington ratios, BAL quasars also occur in low Eddington ratio regimes,…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-03-26 M. Vivek , Dominika Wylezalek

Blueshifts - or, more accurately, blue asymmetries - in broad emission lines such as CIV $\lambda$1550 are common in luminous quasars and correlate with fundamental properties such as Eddington ratio and broad absorption line (BAL)…

In this Letter, we present an analysis of the relation between the variability of broad absorption lines (BALs) and that of the continuum. Our sample is multi-epoch observations of 483 quasars by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-I/II/III…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-11-13 Wei-Jian Lu , Ying-Ru Lin , Yi-Ping Qin

We investigate broad absorption line (BAL) disappearance and emergence using a 470 BAL-quasar sample over < 0.10-5.25 rest-frame years with at least three spectroscopic epochs for each quasar from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We identify…

Broad absorption line (BAL) quasars are characterized by gas clouds that absorb flux at the wavelength of common quasar spectral features, although blueshifted by velocities that can exceed 0.1c. BAL features are interesting as signatures…