LUMINOSITY EFFECTS AND THE EMISSION-LINE PROPERTIES OF QUASARS WITH 0-LESS-THAN-Z-LESS-THAN-3.8

Citation
Ps. Osmer et al., LUMINOSITY EFFECTS AND THE EMISSION-LINE PROPERTIES OF QUASARS WITH 0-LESS-THAN-Z-LESS-THAN-3.8, The Astrophysical journal, 436(2), 1994, pp. 678-695
Citations number
33
Categorie Soggetti
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Journal title
ISSN journal
0004637X
Volume
436
Issue
2
Year of publication
1994
Part
1
Pages
678 - 695
Database
ISI
SICI code
0004-637X(1994)436:2<678:LEATEP>2.0.ZU;2-1
Abstract
We present data and a spectral atlas for 76 quasars with 2.97 < z < 3. 80 and for 33 quasars with z similar to 2, together with measures of 7 3 quasars from the IUE archives that mostly have z < 1. The quasars pr ovide a sampling of the luminosity-redshift plane at constant luminosi ty for 0 < z < 3.8, a range of a factor of 40 in luminosity for 3 < z < 3.8, and a range of 10(3) in luminosity for z < 1. We investigate th e behavior of the principle emission lines from 1200-2000 A and find: 1. The Baldwin effect at z > 3 is definitely present in the C IV lambd a 1549 line and in the other strong emission lines in varying degrees except for N V lambda lambda 1240 and 1400, where the effect is very w eak. 2. The component that varies with luminosity has a narrower FWHM than the average line width and appears consistent with the first comp onent of the principal component analysis of the Large Bright Quasar S urvey sample by Francis et al. (1992). 3. There is no evidence for red shift-dependent spectral changes, Baldwin or otherwise, in quasars of the same luminosity in the z similar to 2 and z > 3 samples. 4. The Ba ldwin effect in the IUE, z similar to 2, and z > 3 subsamples joins sm oothly, although the slope of the effect steepens with increasing lumi nosity.5. The results are consistent with the ionization parameter dec reasing with increasing luminosity. 6. The large ratio of N v to Ly al pha and its small change with luminosity are consistent with the argum ents of Hamann and Ferland (1993a, b) that the N/C ratio is enhanced i n high-luminosity quasars with z > 3.