Broad Absorption Line Variability in Radio-Loud Quasars

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

We investigate broad absorption line (BAL) variability within a sample of 20 radio-loud quasars (RLQs) using Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectra along with new Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) observations. By comparison to BAL variability in radio-quiet quasars (RQQs), we aim to assess whether BAL outflows in RLQs have a similar physical origin to those in RQQs. The BAL RLQs were selected from SDSS/FIRST data and include both core-dominated (17) and lobe-dominated (3) objects; their radio luminosities and radio-loudness values span 2.5 and 3 orders of magnitude, respectively, and a substantial fraction have large BAL velocities (8/20 exceed 10000 km/s) and equivalent widths (6/20 exceed rest-frame 4000 km/s). Only modest BAL variability is detected on rest-frame timescales of 300-1000 days: the median fractional change in equivalent width is 0.07, exceeds 0.2 for only 3/20 objects, and in no cases is greater than 0.30. We do not find any correlation between the fractional change in equivalent width and radio luminosity. There is a possible tendency for lobe-dominated objects to display greater variability, but a larger sample is required for confirmation. Comparison to variability in BAL RQQs does not reveal significant differences in the distribution of fractional change in equivalent width. This suggests that the mechanism of BAL production within this sample of RLQs may be similar to that of the comparison BAL RQQs. We extend this comparison to shorter timescales (30-300 rest-frame days) through the additional inclusion of BAL RLQs with multiple SDSS spectra, and discuss the results. Additional coverage at longer timescales would be helpful to investigate whether the variability amplitude increases for BAL RLQs, as it apparently does for BAL RQQs.

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