EVIDENCE AGAINST BROAD ABSORPTION-LINES IN THE X-RAY-BRIGHT QUASAR PG-1416-129

Recent results from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey and from deep ROSAT point ings reveal that broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs) are weak in t he soft X-ray bandpass (alpha(ox) > 1.8) in comparison to QSOs with no rmal OUV spectra (<(alpha)over bar>(ox) = 1.4). One glaring exception appeared to be the nearby BALQSO PG 1416-129, which is a bright ROSAT source showing no evidence for intrinsic soft X-ray absorption. We pre sent here our new HST Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) spectrum of PG 1 416-129, in which we find no evidence for BALs. We show that the featu res resulting in the original BAL classification, based on IUE spectra , were probably spurious. On the basis of UV, X-ray, and optical evide nce, we conclude that PG 1416-129 is not now, and has never been, a BA LQSO. Our result suggests that weak soft X-ray emission is a defining characteristic of true BALQSOs. If BALQSOs indeed harbor normal intrin sic spectral energy distributions, their observed soft X-ray weakness is most likely the result of absorption. The ubiquitous occurrence of weak soft X-ray emission with UV absorption (BALs) thus suggests absor bers in each energy regime that are physically associated, if not iden tical.