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The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project : systematic investigations of short-timescale CIV broad absorption line variability

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Hemler_2018_Civ_adsorption_line_AJ_AAM.pdf (1.199Mb)
Date
06/02/2019
Author
Hemler, Z. S.
Grier, C. J.
Brandt, W. N.
Hall, P. B.
Horne, Keith
Shen, Yue
Trump, J. R.
Schneider, D. P.
Vivek, M.
Bizyaev, Dmitry
Oravetz, Audrey
Oravetz, Daniel
Pan, Kaike
Keywords
Galaxies: active
Galaxies: nuclei
Galaxies: kinematics and dynamics
Quasars: adsorption lines
QB Astronomy
QC Physics
3rd-NDAS
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Abstract
We systematically investigate short-timescale (<10-day rest-frame) Civ broad absorption-line (BAL) variability to constrain quasar-wind properties and provide insights into BAL-variability mechanisms in quasars. We employ data taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping (SDSS-RM) project, as the rapid cadence of these observations provides a novel opportunity to probe BAL variability on shorter rest-frame timescales than have previously been explored. In a sample of 27 quasars with a median of 58 spectral epochs per quasar, we have identified 15 quasars (55+18−14%), 19 of37 Civ BAL troughs (51+15−12%), and 54 of 1460 epoch pairs (3.7±0.5%) that exhibit significant CivBAL equivalent-width variability on timescales of less than 10 days in the quasar rest frame. These frequencies indicate that such variability is common among quasars and BALs, though somewhat rare among epoch pairs. Thus, models describing BALs and their behavior must account for variability on timescales down to less than a day in the quasar rest frame. We also examine a variety of spectral characteristics and find that in some cases, BAL variability is best described by ionization-state changes, while other cases are more consistent with changes in covering fraction or column density. We adopt a simple model to constrain the density and radial distance of two outflows appearing to vary by ionization-state changes, yielding outflow density lower limits consistent with previous work.
Citation
Hemler , Z S , Grier , C J , Brandt , W N , Hall , P B , Horne , K , Shen , Y , Trump , J R , Schneider , D P , Vivek , M , Bizyaev , D , Oravetz , A , Oravetz , D & Pan , K 2019 , ' The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project : systematic investigations of short-timescale CIV broad absorption line variability ' , Astrophysical Journal , vol. 872 , no. 1 , 21 . https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaf1bf
Publication
Astrophysical Journal
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaf1bf
ISSN
0004-637X
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2019, American Astronomical Society. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher's policies. This is the author created accepted version manuscript following peer review and as such may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaf1bf
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/16505

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