Probing spectral properties of radio-quiet quasars searched for optical microvariability

Abstract

We obtained SDSS spectra for a set of 37 radio-quiet quasars (RQQSOs) that had been previously examined for rapid small scale optical variations, or microvariability. Their H-beta and Mg II emission lines were carefully fit to determine line widths (FWHM) as well as equivalent widths (EW) due to the broad emission line components. The line widths were used to estimate black hole masses and Eddington ratios, ell. Both EW and FWHM are anticorrelated with ell. The EW distributions provide no evidence for the hypothesis that a weak jet component in the RQQSOs is responsible for their microvariability.

15 pages, 8 figures, 5 table, to match the published version; The definitive version will be available at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/

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Cited by in corpus (9)

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• HST/COS observations of a new population of associated QSO absorbers
• The optical variability of steep-spectrum radio quasars in the SDSS Stripe 82 region
• On the Covering Fraction Variability in an EUV Mini-BAL Outflow from PG 1206+459
• Discovery of a red quasar with recurrent activity
• Optical Microvariability in Quasars: Spectral Variability
• A comparative study of the physical properties for a representative sample of Narrow and Broad-line Seyfert galaxies
• Probing spectral properties of radio-quiet quasars searched for optical microvariability-II