Peculiar Broad Absorption Line Quasars found in DPOSS

Abstract

With the recent release of large (i.e., > hundred million objects), well-calibrated photometric surveys, such as DPOSS, 2MASS, and SDSS, spectroscopic identification of important targets is no longer a simple issue. In order to enhance the returns from a spectroscopic survey, candidate sources are often preferentially selected to be of interest, such as brown dwarfs or high redshift quasars. This approach, while useful for targeted projects, risks missing new or unusual species. We have, as a result, taken the alternative path of spectroscopically identifying interesting sources with the sole criterion being that they are in low density areas of the g - r and r - i color-space defined by the DPOSS survey. In this paper, we present three peculiar broad absorption line quasars that were discovered during this spectroscopic survey, demonstrating the efficacy of this approach. PSS J0052+2405 is an Iron LoBAL quasar at a redshift z = 2.4512 with very broad absorption from many species. PSS J0141+3334 is a reddened LoBAL quasar at z = 3.005 with no obvious emission lines. PSS J1537+1227 is a Iron LoBAL at a redshift of z = 1.212 with strong narrow Mgii and Feii emission. Follow-up high resolution spectroscopy of these three quasars promises to improve our understanding of BAL quasars. The sensitivity of particular parameter spaces, in this case a two-color space, to the redshift of these three sources is dramatic, raising questions about traditional techniques of defining quasar populations for statistical analysis.

27 pages, 13 figures, Accepted to the Astronomical Journal

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Unusual quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey selected by means of Kohonen self-organising maps
• Discovery of H alpha absorption in the unusual broad absorption line quasar SDSS J083942.11+380526.3
• Extreme Variability in a Broad Absorption Line Quasar
• Chandra X-Ray Observations of Two Unusual BAL Quasars
• Peculiar Broad Absorption Line Quasars found in DPOSS
• SDSS J1553+0056: A BALQSO mimicking a Lyman-break galaxy
• Rest-frame optical and far-infrared observations of extremely bright Lyman-break galaxy candidates at z ~ 2.5