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Title:
X-ray Insights into the Physics of Mini-BAL Quasar Outflows
Authors:
Gibson, Robert R.; Brandt, W. N.; Gallagher, S. C.; Schneider, Donald P.
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802, USA ), AB(Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802, USA ), AC(Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada), AD(Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802, USA )
Publication:
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 696, Issue 1, pp. 924-940 (2009). (ApJ Homepage)
Publication Date:
05/2009
Origin:
IOP
ApJ Keywords:
galaxies: active, galaxies: nuclei, quasars: absorption lines, quasars: emission lines, X-rays: general
DOI:
10.1088/0004-637X/696/1/924
Bibliographic Code:
2009ApJ...696..924G

Abstract

We examine the ultraviolet and X-ray properties of 256 radio-quiet Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasars (QSOs) observed in X-rays with Chandra and/or XMM-Newton in order to study the relationship between QSOs with broad C IV absorption lines (BALs; width >2000 km s-1) and those with C IV mini-BALs (here defined to have widths of 1000-2000 km s-1). Our sample includes 42 BAL and 48 mini-BAL QSOs. The relative X-ray brightness and hard spectral slopes of the mini-BAL population are, on average, intermediate between those of BAL and non-BAL QSOs, as might be expected if narrower and broader absorption line outflows are physically related. However, a significant population of mini-BALs has outflow velocities higher than would be expected for BAL QSOs of the same relative X-ray brightness. Consistently strong X-ray absorption is apparently not required to accelerate at least some mini-BALs to high outflow velocities. Assuming the mini-BAL features are correctly attributed to intrinsic C IV absorption, we suggest that their observed properties may be explained if mini-BALs are "seeds" that can be accelerated to form BALs when sufficient X-ray shielding is present. We also examine several QSOs with broad C IV absorption that have been recently reported to be unusually X-ray bright. Such cases are frequently mini-BAL QSOs, which, as a population, are generally brighter in X-rays than BAL QSOs. Pointed XMM-Newton observations also suggest that these sources (or unresolved neighbors) may have been previously observed in a high-flux state.
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