A Balmer-line Broad Absorption Line Quasar

I report the discovery of blueshifted broad absorption line (BAL) troughs in at least six transitions of the Balmer series of hydrogen (Hbeta to H9) and in CaII, MgII and excited FeII in the quasar SDSS J125942.80+121312.6. This is only the fourth active galactic nucleus known to exhibit Balmer absorption, all four in conjunction with low-ionization BAL systems containing excited Fe II. The substantial population in the n=2 shell of H I in this quasar's absorber likely arises from Ly-alpha trapping. In an absorber sufficiently optically thick to show Balmer absorption, soft X-rays from the quasar penetrate to large \tau_Ly\alpha and ionize H I. Recombination then creates Ly-alpha photons that increase the n=2 population by a factor \tau_Ly\alpha since they require about \tau_Ly\alpha scatterings to diffuse out of the absorber. Observing Ly-alpha trapping in a quasar absorber requires a large but Compton-thin column of gas along our line of sight which includes substantial H I but not too much dust. Presumably the rarity of Balmer-line BAL troughs reflects the rarity of such conditions in quasar absorbers.Comment: AJ in press. 4 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, emulateapj forma

VLT Observations of Two Unusual BAL Quasars

Among the unusual broad absorption line quasars being found by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are objects with much stronger absorption in Fe III than Fe II. These unusual line ratios require a high density in the outflow (n_H >= 3 x 10^{10} cm^{-3}). They should also appear for only a limited range of outflow column densities, which explains their rarity. Previously we suggested that the Fe III line ratios were also affected by a resonance; we now believe this is an artifact of structure in the underlying Fe II + Fe III pseudocontinuum. The SDSS is also discovering objects with absorption in rarely seen transitions such as He I. VLT+UVES high-resolution spectra of one such object, the mini-BAL quasar SDSS 1453+0029, show that it has two He I absorption systems with considerably different properties separated by only 350 km/s.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; to appear in "Active Galactic Nuclei, from Central Engine to Host Galaxy", eds. Collin, Combes & Shlosman, PASP Conference Series, in pres

MHD Disc Winds and Linewidth Distributions

We study AGN emission line profiles combining an improved version of the accretion disc-wind model of Murray & Chiang with the magneto-hydrodynamic model of Emmering et al. We show how the shape, broadening and shift of the C IV line depend not only on the viewing angle to the object but also on the wind launching angle, especially for small launching angles. We have compared the dispersions in our model C IV linewidth distributions to observational upper limit on that dispersion, considering both smooth and clumpy torus models. As the torus half-opening angle (measured from the polar axis) increases above about 18? degrees, increasingly larger wind launching angles are required to match the observational constraints. Above a half-opening angle of about 47? degrees, no wind launch angle (within the maximum allowed by the MHD solutions) can match the observations. Considering a model that replaces the torus by a warped disc yields the same constraints obtained with the two other models

Conference Summary: AGN Physics with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

The ``AGN Physics with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey'' conference was held at Princeton University in July 2003 to bring together groups working inside and outside of the SDSS collaboration at radio through X-ray wavelengths to discuss the common goal of better understanding the physics of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Although we still do not have a full understanding of AGN, much progress has been made in recent years. In this conference summary, we concentrate on those topics discussed at the meeting where we believe that there has been significant change or where there is a new standard of comparison, as well as on important new trends in AGN research.Comment: 4 pages, no figures; text now fully matches published versio

2MASS 1315-2649: A High Proper Motion L Dwarf with Strong H-alpha Emission

In Hall (2002) I reported that 2MASSI J1315309-264951 is an L dwarf with strong H-alpha emission. Two spectroscopic epochs appeared to show that the H-alpha was variable, decreasing from 121 Angstroms to 25 Angstroms EW, which I interpreted as a flare during the first observation. Gizis (2002) independently discovered this object, and his intermediate spectroscopic epoch shows H-alpha with 97 Angstroms EW. A new fourth epoch of spectroscopy again shows a very large H-alpha EW (124 Angstroms), confirming this object to be a persistent, strong H-alpha emitter. Whether the H-alpha is steady (like 2MASS 1237+6526) or from continuous strong flaring (like PC0025+0447) remains unclear. Imaging confirms that 2MASS 1315-2649 has a high proper motion (0.71"/year), corresponding to a transverse velocity of ~76 km/s at its distance of ~23 pc. Thus 2MASS 1315-2649 is consistent with being >~2 Gyr old and therefore relatively massive. If that is so, the correlation of H-alph activity with mass found by Gizis et al. (2000) would seem to support the continuous strong flaring scenario, though it does not rule out a brown dwarf binary accretion scenario.Comment: 2 pages, ApJL accepte