Narrow Absorption Lines Complex. II. Probing the Line-locking Signatures within the Trough-like Broad Absorption Line

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 863; no. 2; pp. 186 - 189
• Main Authors: Lu, Wei-Jian, Lin, Ying-Ru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia The American Astronomical Society 20.08.2018; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Absorption; Astrophysics; galaxies: active; Helium; Locking; Quasars; quasars: absorption lines; quasars: individual (SDSS J021740.96-085447.9); Signatures; Sky surveys (astronomy); Space telescopes; Troughs
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aad411

In this paper, we report the line-locking phenomenon of the blended narrow absorption lines (NALs) within trough-like broad absorption lines (BALs) in quasar SDSS J021740.96-085447.9 (hereafter J0217-0854). Utilizing the two-epoch spectroscopic observations of J0217-0854 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we find that each of its C iv, Si iv, N v, and Ly BAL troughs actually contain at least seven NAL systems. By splitting these BAL troughs into multiple NAL systems, we find that the velocity separations between the NAL systems are similar to their doublet splittings, with some of them matching perfectly. Cases like J0217-0854, showing line-locking signatures of NALs within BAL troughs, offer direct observational evidence for the idea that radiative forces play a significant role in driving BAL (at least for Type N BAL) outflows.