Other
Scientific paper
Aug 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000noao.prop..416r&link_type=abstract
NOAO Proposal ID #2000B-0416
Other
Scientific paper
We propose to complete high signal-to-noise near-UV spectroscopy of the 18 radio-selected 1Jy and X-ray-selected EMSS BL Lacs for which accurate redshifts have not yet been obtained. While we and others have obtained good to excellent quality red ((lambda) > 4500Å) spectra, high signal-to-noise near-UV spectra are necessary for several of these objects to detect or confirm weak spectral features. These observations have the potential of determining the cause of the great disparity between the max values for the 1 Jy and EMSS samples of BL Lacs, and of defining the range of the BL Lac phenomenon in general. The observations proposed here will be compared to similar observations of the 1Jy and EMSS samples successfully obtained by us in the last several years. This project was begun in August 1996 on the MMT; and the blue- channel spectra obtained were used to determine redshifts for 4 of the 6 objects observed. These observations also allowed a surprising result: BL Lac objects appear to have 4-5 times as many strong MgII absorption systems per unit redshift as quasars do, a 2.5-3σ result. If true, this result suggests that intervening absorption systems preferentially lie along BL Lac sightlines, a result that can be naturally explained if gravitational lensing is important in producing the BL Lac phenomenon. The proposed observations will more than double the sampled redshift range, allowing confirmation of this unusual discovery.
Rector Travis A.
Stocke John T.
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