Determining the Fraction of Intrinsic CIV Absorption in Quasi-Stellar Object Absorption Line Systems

Abstract

We present the results of a study of QSO Absorption Line Systems (QSOALSs) with respect to intrinsic QSO properties using an updated catalog of data in the literature. We have searched the literature for 6 and 20 cm radio flux densities and have studied 20 cm maps from the FIRST VLA Survey in order to compare the absorption properties with radio luminosity, radio spectral index and radio morphology. This work focuses particularly on the nature of CIV QSOALSs and their distribution in velocity space in light of intrinsic QSO properties. We find that the distribution of narrow, CIV absorption systems with relative velocities exceeding 5000 km/s is dependent not only on the optical luminosity of the QSOs, but also on the radio luminosity, the radio spectral index and the radio morphology of the QSOs. These observations are apparently inconsistent with the hypothesis that these systems are entirely due to intervening galaxies and it would seem that the contamination of the intervening systems (from 5000 to 75000 km/s) by those that are intrinsic to the environment of the QSO is significantly larger than expected. We stress the need for truly homogeneous and unbiased surveys of QSOALS to confirm these results from our inhomogeneous data set.