A CATALOG OF BROAD ABSORPTION LINE QUASARS IN SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY DATA RELEASE 5

By R. Gibson, Linhua Jiang, W. N. Brandt, P. Hall, Yue Shen, Jianfeng Wu, S. Anderson, D. Schneider, D. V. vanden Berk, S. Gallagher and 2 more. 2008

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We present a catalog of 5039 broad absorption line (BAL) quasars (QSOs) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 5 (DR5) QSO catalog that have absorption troughs covering a continuous velocity range ⩾2000 km s−1. We have fitted ultraviolet (UV) continua and line emission in each case, enabling us to report common diagnostics of BAL strengths and velocities in the range −25, 000 to 0 km s−1 for Si iv λ1400, C iv λ1549, Al iii λ1857, and Mg ii λ2799. We calculate these diagnostics using the spectrum listed in the DR5 QSO catalog, and also for spectra from additional SDSS observing epochs when available. In cases where BAL QSOs have been observed with Chandra or XMM-Newton, we report the X-ray monochromatic luminosities of these sources. We confirm and extend previous findings that BAL QSOs are more strongly reddened in the rest-frame UV than non-BAL QSOs, and that BAL QSOs are relatively X-ray weak compared to non-BAL QSOs. The observed BAL fraction is dependent on the spectral signal-to-noise ratio (S/N); for higher S/N sources, we find an observed BAL fraction of ≈ 15%. BAL QSOs show a similar Baldwin effect as for non-BAL QSOs, in that their C iv emission equivalent widths decrease with increasing continuum luminosity. However, BAL QSOs have weaker C iv emission in general than do non-BAL QSOs. Sources with higher UV luminosities are more likely to have higher-velocity outflows, and the BAL outflow velocity and UV absorption strength are correlated with relative X-ray weakness. These results are in qualitative agreement with models that depend on strong X-ray absorption to shield the outflow from overionization and enable radiative acceleration. In a scenario in which BAL trough shapes are primarily determined by outflow geometry, observed differences in Si iv and C iv trough shapes would suggest that some outflows have ion-dependent structure.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/23e2a7d827a8fa4c0fd16ef57dc22c7fbce54331

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Citations in the corpus

Black Hole Growth to z = 2 - I: Improved Virial Methods for Measuring M_BH and L/L_Edd (2012, methodology): “For this, we used the relevant flags in the SDSS/DR7 catalog of Shen et al. (2011, see below) that, in turn, is largely based on the SDSS/DR5 catalog of BALQSOs of Gibson et al. (2009), with further (manual and hence partial) cl ssification of the post-DR5 spectra.”
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: Sample Characterization (2018, background): “BAL and mini-BAL quasars (e.g., Trump et al. 2006; Gibson et al. 2009; Pâris et al. 2017) were identified by their absorption troughs.”
Evolution of the cosmological mass density of neutral gas from Sloan Digital Sky Survey II - Data Release 7 (2009, methodology): “The balnicity index (BI) characterises the strength of a BAL (see e.g. Gibson et al. 2009).”
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog: Fourteenth data release (2017, background): “Gibson et al. (2009) modeled their quasar continuum with a reddened power-law and strong emission lines with Voigt profiles.”
The physics of galactic winds driven by active galactic nuclei (2012, background): “Observed BALs have typical maximum velocity offsets ∼ 10, 000−30, 000 km s−1, and even higher velocity absorption has been detected in some cases (e.g., Weymann et al. 1981; Turnshek 1988; Gibson et al. 2009).”
Energetic galaxy-wide outflows in high-redshift ultraluminous infrared galaxies hosting AGN activity (2012, background): “…high redshift: X-ray and UV absorption-line spectroscopy reveal high-velocity windsof up to v≈ 0.1c (e.g., Reeves et al. 2003; Blustin et al. 2003; Trump et al. 2006; Gibson et al. 2009; Gofford et al. 2011; Page et al. 2011) and may be a ubiquitous property of all AGN (Ganguly & Brotherton 2008).”
A HUBBLE DIAGRAM FOR QUASARS (2015, unknown): “We have also neglected the object 142123.98 + 463317.8 at z = 3.36 which was classified BAL by Gibson et al. (2009), and the sources 170100.62 + 641209.0 at z = 2.74 and 152156.48 + 520238.4 at z = 2.19 which were already in the Steffen et al. sample.”
A strong redshift dependence of the broad absorption line quasar fraction (2010, unknown): “Modifications to the BI have been proposed, in particular the absorption index (AI; Hall et al. 2002; Trump et al. 2006), designed to include narrower troughs than the BI, and the modified balnicity index BI0 (Gibson et al. 2009, hereafter G09), which extends the integration region to zero velocity.”
THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY QUASAR CATALOG. V. SEVENTH DATA RELEASE (2010, unknown): “Recent additional compilations of quasars based upon SDSS data include the DR5 broad absorption line (BAL) quasar catalog (Gibson et al. 2009), the Two Degree Field–SDSS Luminous Red Galaxy and Quasar Survey (2SLAQ) spectroscopic catalog (Croom et al. 2009), and a sample of approximately one…”
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasar catalog: ninth data release (2012, methodology): “If we re- strict the latter sample to quasars with SNR>10 at 1,700 Å in the rest frame we have flagged 1,408 BALs out of 7,317 quasars, a fraction of 19.2% which compares well with what was found by Gibson et al. (2009).”
THE BARYON OSCILLATION SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY OF SDSS-III (2012, methodology): “Broad Absorption Line (BAL) Quasar Variability Survey: Thousands of BAL quasars were discovered in the SDSS-I and -II (e.g. Gibson et al. 2009).”
A CATALOG OF QUASAR PROPERTIES FROM SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY DATA RELEASE 7 (2010, methodology): “To flag BALQSOs, we use the Gibson et al. (2009) DR5 BALQSO catalog to set the CIV and MgII BALQSO flags (using their “BI0” flags).”
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog: Twelfth data release (2016, background): “Gibson et al. (2009) modeled the quasar continuum with a reddened power-law and strong emission lines with Voigt profiles.”