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The Physical Properties Of Low-Redshift Felobal Quasars. Iii. The Location And Geometry Of The Outflows, Hyunseop Choi, Karen M. Leighly, Collin Dabbieri, Donald M. Terndrup, Sarah C. Gallagher, Gordon T. Richards

Physics and Astronomy Publications

We present continued analysis of a sample of low-redshift iron low-ionization broad-absorption-line quasars (FeLoBALQs). Choi et al. presented SimBAL spectral analysis of broad-absorption-line (BAL) outflows in 50 objects. Leighly et al. analyzed the optical emission lines of 30 of those 50 objects and found that they are characterized by either a high accretion rate (L Bol/L Edd > 0.3) or low accretion rate (0.03 < L Bol/L Edd < 0.3). We report that the outflow velocity is inversely correlated with the BAL location among the high-accretion-rate objects, with the highest velocities observed in parsec-scale outflows. In contrast, the low-Eddington-ratio objects showed the opposite trend. We confirmed the known relationship between the outflow velocity and L Bol/L Edd and found that the scatter plausibly originates in the force multiplier (launch radius) in the low(high)-accretion-rate objects. A log volume filling factor between −6 and −4 was found in most outflows but was as high as −1 for low-velocity compact outflows. We investigated the relationship between the observed [O iii] emission and that predicted from the BAL gas. We found that these could be reconciled if the emission-line covering fraction depends on the Seyfert type and BAL location. The difference between the predicted and observed [O iii] luminosity is correlated with the outflow velocity, suggesting that [O iii] emission in high-Eddington-ratio objects may be broad and hidden under Fe ii emission. We suggest that the physical differences in the outflow properties as a function of location in the quasar and accretion rate point to different formation, acceleration, and confinement mechanisms for the two FeLoBALQ types.