Time Variable Associated Absorption in the QSO UM 675

Details Time Variable Associated Absorption in the QSO UM 675 Time Variable Associated Absorption in the QSO UM 675

May 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994aas...184.1107h&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 184th AAS Meeting, #11.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 26, p.875

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Scientific paper

We discuss dramatic changes in the z_a ~ z_e absorption system of the z_e = 2.15 QSO UM 675 (Q0150-203). The C IV lambda 1550 and N V lambda 1240 doublets at z_a = 2.1344 strengthened by a factor of ~ 3 between the observations of Sargent, Boksenberg and Steidel (1988, ApJS, 68, 539; measured November 1981) and our earliest measurements (November and December 1990). During this time, C IV in the z_a = 2.0083 system may also have strengthened. The variability of other lines in these systems is unknown. Continued monitoring is in progress. We consider several models of the z_a ~ z_e absorption environment, and conclude that the absorbing clouds are close to the QSO and photoionized by the QSO continuum. The variability timescale (<~2.9 yrs rest) requires gas densities gap 4000 cm(-3) to allow changes in the ionization balance. This minimum density, and the high ionization needed to produce the Ne VIII lambda 774 and O VI lambda 1035 absorptions reported previously (E. M. Burbidge et al., 1993, BAAS, 24, 1135), requires clouds <~200 pc from the QSO. The full range of absorption line ionizations (including C III lambda 977 and N III lambda 989) implies that the clouds are segregated, spanning a factor of gap 10 in distance or gap 100 in density. Across these regions the H I fraction varies from ~ 10(-3) to ~ 10(-6) . The total hydrogen column ranges from a few times 10(18) cm(-2) in the low ionization gas to ~ 10(20) cm(-2) where the Ne VIII lines form. The Lyman continuum is expected to be optically thin throughout, consistent with the measured absence of a Lyman edge. The metal abundances are roughly solar or above. Implications of these results are discussed. This work is supported by NASA grant NAG 5-1630.

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