J/MNRAS/488/4690 Quasar winds and narrow absorption lines (Culliton+, 2019)
Probing quasar winds using intrinsic narrow absorption lines.
Culliton C., Charlton J., Eracleous M., Ganguly R., Misawa T.
<Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 488, 4690-4731 (2019)>
=2019MNRAS.488.4690C 2019MNRAS.488.4690C (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: QSOs ; Active gal. nuclei ; Accretion ; Line Profiles ;
Spectra, optical ; Redshifts
Keywords: accretion, accretion discs - galaxies: active -
(galaxies:) quasars: absorption lines - (galaxies:) quasars: general
Abstract:
We use the spectra of 73 quasars (1.5=<z=<5) from the VLT UVES archive
to catalogue and study narrow absorption lines (NALs) that are
physically associated with (intrinsic to) the quasars. We identify 410
NAL systems containing CIV, NV, and/or SiIV doublets. Based on the
assumption that only systems intrinsic to the quasar can exhibit
partial coverage of the background source(s), we identify 34 reliably
intrinsic NAL systems and 11 systems that are potentially intrinsic,
as well as 4 mini-broad absorption lines (BALs) and 1 BAL. The minimum
fraction of quasars with at least one intrinsic system is shown to be
38 per cent. We identify intrinsic NALs with a wide range of
properties, including apparent ejection velocity, coverage fraction,
and ionization level. There is a continuous distribution of
properties, rather than discrete families, ranging from partially
covered CIV systems with black Lyα and with a separate
low-ionization gas phase to partially covered NV systems with
partially covered Lyα and without detected low-ionization gas.
Even more highly ionized associated and intrinsic absorption systems
(OVI, NeVIII, and MgX doublets) have been presented in separate
studies; these may represent an extension of the above sequence. We
also use the properties of the NALs in conjunction with recent models
of accretion disc winds that predict the origins of the absorbing gas
in order to determine the model that best characterizes our sample.
Additionally, we construct a model describing the spatial
distributions, geometries, and varied ionization structures of
intrinsic NALs.
Description:
In this paper, we use the high-resolution (R∼45000) spectra of 73
quasars from the VLT UVES archive, with a redshift range 1.4<z<4.7.
These are a subset of the 81 quasars found in the archive before 2006
June that were used for the Narayanan et al. (2007ApJ...660.1093N 2007ApJ...660.1093N,
Cat. J/ApJ/660/1093) survey of weak MgII absorbers, excluding the 8
quasars at z<1.4 for which the NV emission line would not be covered.
Our sample also excluded known BAL quasars, though one BAL was found,
and exhibits a preference for optically bright quasars that allow
high-resolution observations. As the presence of BALs gives an
enhanced probability of finding CIV associated absorption lines
(Ganguly et al. 2001ApJ...549..133G 2001ApJ...549..133G), the exclusion of BAL quasars may
bias our sample against intrinsic NALs. However, the properties of the
intrinsic NALs in our sample of quasars are unlikely to be
significantly different from the NALs found towards BAL quasars.
Since we aim to determine whether the intrinsic NAL incidence rate and
physical properties depend on quasar properties, we present relevant
quasar properties in Table 1.
The spectra of the 73 quasars, retrieved from the ESO archive, were
reduced with the eso-midas ECHELLE/UVES package, as described in
Narayanan et al. (2007ApJ...660.1093N 2007ApJ...660.1093N, Cat. J/ApJ/660/1093). After
wavelength calibration, we applied heliocentric velocity corrections
and rebinned the spectra to 0.03Å. We then normalized the spectra
by applying a continuum fit, determined using the IRAF SFIT procedure.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ReadMe 80 . This file
table1.dat 61 73 Sample quasars and their properties
table5.dat 43 58 Ionization states of Class A and Class B NALs
table6.dat 177 46 Ratio of BELR and continuum emission in assorted
ions
tablea1.dat 120 221 Intrinsic NALs and their components
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See also:
J/ApJ/660/1093 : Weak MgII absorbers at 0.4<z<2.4 (Narayanan+, 2007)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 10 A10 --- Name QSO name (QHHMM+DDMM)
12 A1 --- f_Name [*] Flag on Name (1)
14- 19 F6.4 --- zem Emission redshift
21- 26 F6.3 [10-7W/Hz] logL4400 Optical luminosity at 4400Å in the
quasar rest frame
28 A1 --- l_logLrad Limit flag on logLrad
30- 35 F6.3 [10-7W/Hz] logLrad Observed radio luminosity (2)
37- 41 F5.3 GHz nu Radio frequency corresponding to the
observed radio luminosity
43 A1 --- l_logL5GHz Limit flag on logL5GHz
45- 50 F6.3 [10-7W/Hz] logL5GHz Radio luminosity at 5GHz in the quasar
rest frame, obtained from the observed
luminosity using a spectra index of
αr=0.7
52 A1 --- l_logR Limit flag on logR
54- 59 F6.3 --- logR Radio-loudness parameter (3)
61 A1 --- L/Q [LQ?] Radio-loud (L) or radio-quiet (Q)
quasar (4)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note (1): Flag as follows:
* = Broad absorption line (BAL) quasar
Note (2): If no radio source is detected within 10arcsec of the optical source,
we use the detection limit of the survey as an upper limit
Note (3): To determine which quasars are radio loud, we use the radio-loudness
parameter, R, which is defined as the ratio of the rest-frame radio
and optical fluxes
Note (4): Our data show a clear distinction between radio-loud quasars (R>250)
and radio-quiet quasars (R=<30), so we select R=30 as the
radio-loud/quiet boundary
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table5.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 7 A7 --- Class System class (A or B) (G1)
9- 18 A10 --- Name QSO name (QHHMM+DDMM)
20- 25 F6.4 --- zabs Absorption redshift
27 A1 --- lowion [YN-] Detection of low-ionization lines
(13-24eV) (1)
29 A1 --- intion [YN-] Detection of intermediate-ionization
lines (33-48eV) (2)
31 A1 --- CIV [YN-] Detection of CIV line (65eV)
33 A1 --- NV [YN-] Detection of NV line (98eV)
35 A1 --- OVI [YN-] Detection of OVI line (138eV)
37- 43 A7 --- Ionclass Ionization class (3)
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Note (1): Detection of lines from ions with ionization potentials between 13
and 24eV: OIλ1302, SiIIλ1190, 1193, 1260, 1527,
AlIIλ1671, CIIλ1335
Note (2): Detection of lines from ions with ionization potentials between 33
and 48eV: SiIIIλ1207, SiIVλ1394, 1403, CIIIλ977
Note (3): Ionization class as follows:
1 = CIV dominant system
2 = NV dominant system
H = System contains high-ionization lines
I = System contains intermediate-ionization lines
L = System contains low-ionization lines
A system without a 1 or 2 does not have coverage of Lyα and/or NV,
and so there is no definitive determination of which type of system it is
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table6.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 10 A10 --- Name QSO name (QHHMM+DDMM)
12- 49 A38 --- Type Absorber type
51- 56 F6.4 --- zabs Absorption redshift
58- 63 I6 km/s vshift Velocity offset
65- 70 F6.3 --- WOVI ? Ratio of the broad emission line ratio to the
continuum source flux for the OVI line
72- 76 F5.1 % dcOVI ? Minimum depth of the line that is required for
the continuum to be at least partially covered
for the OVI line
78- 82 F5.1 % deOVI ? Minimum depth of the line that is required for
the broad emission-line region to be at least
partially covered for the OVI line
84- 88 F5.1 % DOVI ? Fractional depth of the OVI line (1)
90- 94 F5.3 --- WLya ? Ratio of the broad emission line ratio to the
continuum source flux for the Lyα line
96- 99 F4.1 % dcLya ? Minimum depth of the line that is required for
the continuum to be at least partially covered
for the Lyα line
101-105 F5.1 % deLya ? Minimum depth of the line that is required for
the broad emission-line region to be at least
partially covered for the Lyα line
107-111 F5.1 % DLya ? Fractional depth of the Lyα line (1)
113-117 F5.3 --- WNV ? Ratio of the broad emission line ratio to the
continuum source flux for the NV line
119-122 F4.1 % dcNV ? Minimum depth of the line that is required for
the continuum to be at least partially covered
for the NV line
124-128 F5.1 % deNV ? Minimum depth of the line that is required for
the broad emission-line region to be at least
partially covered for the NV line
130-134 F5.1 % DNV ? Fractional depth of the NV line(1)
136-140 F5.3 --- WSiIV ? Ratio of the broad emission line ratio to the
continuum source flux for the SiIV line
142-145 F4.1 % dcSiIV ? Minimum depth of the line that is required for
the continuum to be at least partially covered
for the SiIV line
147-151 F5.1 % deSiIV ? Minimum depth of the line that is required for
the broad emission-line region to be at least
partially covered for the SiIV line
153-156 F4.1 % DSiIV ? Fractional depth of the SiIV line (1)
158-162 F5.3 --- WCIV ? Ratio of the broad emission line ratio to the
continuum source flux for the CIV line
164-167 F4.1 % dcCIV ? Minimum depth of the line that is required for
the continuum to be at least partially covered
for the CIV line
169-172 F4.1 % deCIV ? Minimum depth of the line that is required for
the broad emission-line region to be at least
partially covered for the CIV line
174-177 F4.1 % DCIV ? Fractional depth of the CIV line (1)
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Note (1): The fractional depth D is defined as D=1-min(R), where R is the
normalized flux
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: tablea1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 10 A10 --- Name QSO name (QHHMM+DDMM)
12- 17 F6.4 --- zem Emission redshift
19- 22 A4 --- Ion Ion used to identify absorption system
24 A1 --- Class Absorber reliability class (G1)
26- 29 A4 --- Type Absorber type (1)
31- 61 A31 --- Subclass Absorber subclass (2)
63- 68 F6.4 0.1nm EW ? Equivalent width
70- 75 F6.4 0.1nm e_EW ? Error on EW
77- 84 F8.6 --- zabs Absorption redshift
86- 90 F5.2 [cm-2] logNion Logarithm of the ion's measured column density
92- 95 F4.2 [cm-2] e_logNion Error on logNion
97-101 F5.2 km/s b Doppler b parameter
103-107 F5.2 km/s e_b Error on b
109-114 F6.2 --- Cf Coverage fraction (3)
116-120 F5.2 --- e_Cf ? Error on Cf
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Note (1): Absorber type as follows:
BAL = broad absorption line
mBAL = mini-BAL
NV = NV-dominant system
MIX = mixed Lyα system
CLP = CIV dominant with Lyα partial coverage
CIV = CIV-dominant
CLI = CIV dominant with low-ionization lines
UNK = unknown type, usually due to Lyα not being covered for the
given system
Note (2): Subclass denotes the properties of the given system or those of its
host quasar, namely whether it is associated absorption line (AAL) or
not, whether the host quasar is radio loud (L) or radio quiet (Q),
whether the system is part of the homogeneous sample or not, and
whether or not high-ionization lines (H), intermediate-ionization
lines (I), or low-ionization lines (L) are present in the system
Note (3): The coverage fraction is defined as Cf=(Cc+(1+W)CBELR)/(2+W), where
Cc and CBELR are the continuum source and broad emission-line region
(BELR) coverage fractions respectively and W is the ratio of the BELR
to the continuum source flux W=FBELR/Fc-1.
It corresponds to the fraction of all photons at a given wavelength
that are incident on the absorber, with a physical range of 0<Cf=<1.
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Global Notes:
Note (G1): Class A includes those narrow absorption lines (NALs) that were
reliably intrinsic, such as mini-BALs or those that MINFIT determined
to have a coverage fraction less than unity with high significance
[Cf+3σ(C_f)< 1 for at least one kinematic component].
Class B NALs are those that are potential candidates, such as
line-locked systems or those whose coverage fraction was determined
to be within 1σ of unity by both MINFIT and the pixel-by-pixel
method at the centre of at least one component.
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Ana Fiallos [CDS] 28-Dec-2022