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# A Catalog of Broad Absorption Line Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Early Data Release

## 1 Introduction

The nature of BALQSOs has been a question at the forefront of quasar research for the past two decades (Turnshek 1984; Weymann 1995), and considerable uncertainty remains about the nature of the absorption. One proposed explanation of the broad absorption line (BAL) phenomenon is that BALQSOs and nonBALQSOs are distinct populations of objects (Surdej & Hutsemekers 1987). Similarly some have argued that only LoBALs are a different class of quasars (Boroson & Meyers 1992), while others suggest that BALQSOs and nonBALQSOs are the same type of quasar but viewed from different orientations (Weymann et al. 1991; Ogle et al. 1999; Schmidt & Hines 1999) or at different stages in their life cycles (Becker et al. 2000).

Regardless of the nature of their hosts, it is clear that BAL troughs are caused by outflowing gas that is intrinsic to the quasar and are not produced by galaxies along the line of sight (as is the case for most narrow absorption systems). The traditional definition of a BAL trough requires that the outflows extend to considerable velocities from the quasar’s emission redshift; however, it is possible that these intrinsic outflows extend to smaller velocities and are related to the so-called “associated” absorbers that are not as broad and have smaller terminal velocities (Foltz et al. 1986). Some of these associated systems are known to be intrinsic outflows, but others may simply be the result of absorption in the host galaxy or a nearby galaxy.

The characteristics of BALQSOs have been the subject of a number of previous studies. Working from the Large Bright Quasar Survey (LBQS: Hewett, Foltz, & Chaffee 1995), Weymann et al. (1991) compiled the largest previous BALQSO sample. They found that, after approximately correcting for selection effects, BALs occurred in $`12\%`$ of all quasars, but with a striking lack of BALs in radio-loud quasars. They also created composite spectra for both BAL and “normal” quasars, using 42 nonBALQSOs and 40 BALQSOs, including 6 low-ionization BALQSOs (LoBALs) and 34 high-ionization BALQSOs (HiBALs). More recently Brotherton et al. (2001) created composite BALQSO spectra using 25 HiBALs and 18 LoBALs from the FIRST Bright Quasar Survey (FBQS; White et al. 2000).

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS; York et al. 2000) will produce a sample of quasars that is more than 100 times larger than either the LBQS or FBQS, and the SDSS should be relatively unbiased with respect to BALQSOs. Already, Menou et al. (2001) have examined 13 radio-detected SDSS/FIRST quasars with BAL-like intrinsic absorption. The properties of the most extreme cases of SDSS BALQSOs have been presented by Hall et al. (2002). Tolea, Krolik, & Tsvetanov (2002) discussed the principal statistical properties of a sample of C IV BALs drawn from a restricted subset of the EDR quasars studied herein.

The size of the sample of BALQSOs produced by the SDSS suggests that the time is ripe to explore new methods for identifying outflows in AGN. Hall et al. (2002) have suggested a modification for the classification of BALQSOs that imposes less restrictive constraints on the extent of the absorption in BALQSOs. Herein, we explore a different method of determining the underlying continuum and emission line flux, and compare the results with the standard BAL approach as was used by Tolea et al. (2002).

Thus, the primary goals of this new paper are three-fold: (1) the comparison of our composite based continuum+emission line fitting procedure with the traditional power-law continuum plus Gaussian emission line fitting procedure for defining BALQSOs, (2) the construction of a large, well-defined sample of BALQSOs, and (3) the presentation of the resulting distribution of balnicity indices for BALQSOs.

The paper by Tolea et al. (2002) and this paper differ in a number of ways including (1) the definition of the underlying continuum+emission, (2) the way the sample is restricted in order to produce a more homogeneous sample, and (3) the selection and classification of LoBALs. In this paper we will compare and contrast our results to Tolea et al. (2002) and show that the two methods/samples produce similar results. A detailed investigation of the continuum and emission line properties of these BALQSOs will be presented by Reichard et al. (2003). We reserve detailed discussion of the BAL fraction as a function of redshift to Reichard et al. (2003) since there are color dependent selection effects that must be considered.

In § 2 we define our quasar sample. A discussion of the process by which we fit individual spectra to a composite spectrum to define the intrinsic flux level is given in § 3. Our method of classifying quasars into nonBAL, HiBAL, LoBAL, and FeLoBAL subsamples can be found in § 4, which also presents our BALQSO catalog and composite spectra of our subsamples. The catalog has two parts: a relatively complete subsample of BALQSOs that meet the traditional BALQSO definition (nonzero balnicity index) and lie within the redshift range $`1.7z4.2`$, and a supplementary listing of BALQSOs largely outside this redshift range. Using our BALQSO catalog, we discuss the balnicity index distribution in §5; §6 summarizes our results. Throughout this paper we will use the cosmology that is traditionally used to define quasar luminosities, where $`H_o=50\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=1`$, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$. We also adopt a convention for optical spectral index such that $`\alpha =\alpha _\lambda `$ unless stated otherwise, where $`f_\lambda \lambda ^{\alpha _\lambda }`$.

## 2 The Data

The parent sample for our investigation of BALQSOs consists of the 3814 bona fide quasars ($`M_i^{}<23`$, with at least one line broader than $`1000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$) from the SDSS Early Data Release (EDR; Stoughton et al. 2002) quasar catalog (Schneider et al. 2002). These quasars were selected for spectroscopic follow-up from the SDSS imaging survey, which uses a wide-field multi-CCD camera (Gunn et al. 1998). The spectra cover the optical range 3800$``$9200 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$at a resolution of 1800$``$2100. As discussed by Stoughton et al. (2002), quasar candidates were identified using three different preliminary versions of the SDSS Quasar Target Selection Algorithm (Richards et al. 2002a), which identifies quasar candidates according to their broad-band SDSS colors (Fukugita et al. 1996; Stoughton et al. 2002). EDR quasars were also identified as optical matches to both radio sources from the VLA “FIRST” survey (Becker, White, & Helfand 1995) and ROSAT All-Sky Survey (Voges et al. 1999) sources and also as “serendipitous” sources (see § 4.8.4.3 in Stoughton et al. 2002). Details of the SDSS photometric calibrations are given by Hogg et al. (2001) and Smith et al. (2002), and the astrometric calibration is described by Pier et al. (2002). The spectroscopic tiling algorithm is discussed by Blanton et al. (2002).

Although the quasar selection algorithm has been evolving, the differences between the EDR versions of quasar target selection (Stoughton et al. 2002) and the final version of quasar target selection Richards et al. (2002a) are largely for quasars with $`z3.5`$ and $`z4.5`$. Thus the BALQSOs studied herein should be representative of the BALQSOs that will be discovered as part of the final, homogeneous SDSS quasar survey (at least for those quasars with $`i^{}<19.1`$ — the SDSS quasar target selection magnitude limit; in the present study we also include some fainter quasars from the EDR quasar sample that were selected to fainter limits). In order to define a more homogeneously selected sample, we have also indicated which of the BALQSOs presented in this catalog would have been selected using the final SDSS quasar selection algorithm presented by Richards et al. (2002a).

## 3 Composite Spectra Fitting

### 3.1 Overview

Determining whether a quasar is a BALQSO is a complicated task. The standard method is to calculate the “balnicity” index (BI), defined by Weymann et al. (1991).111The BI is essentially a modified equivalent width in velocity space and is defined as follows. Absorption between 3000 and 25000 km s-1 blueward of C IV emission redshift is integrated so long as the absorption falls at least 10% below the continuum for at least 2000 km s-1. The 25000 km s-1 limit is chosen to avoid emission and absorption from Si IV. Any absorption within $`3000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and that fails to span at least $`2000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ in width is excluded in order to avoid contamination from absorption that might not be due to an outflow, specifically the so-called “associated” absorption lines (Foltz et al. 1986). BIs can range from 0 to 20000 km s-1. A BI of zero indicates that broad absorption is absent, while a positive BI indicates not only the presence of one or more broad absorption troughs, but also the amount of absorption. However, the Weymann et al. (1991) definition is not free of complications; specifically, how does one define the true continuum+emission line level and the systemic redshift when there is significant absorption? Broad absorption lines remove flux from the blue wing of emission lines, thus the flux level from which to measure absorption is not the continuum alone, but must also include emission line flux.

To measure BIs in our BALQSO sample, we used two largely automated methods. One of the automated schemes is described in Tolea et al. (2002). The other is new, and so we describe it in detail here.

In previous studies, the general procedure has been to approximate the continuum by a selected analytic form (usually a power-law) and fit it to the spectrum, avoiding (to the degree possible) those portions with strong line features, whether emission or absorption. The emission line corresponding to BAL features is modeled by mirror-imaging the profile of the red wing onto the blue side about either the measured or expected peak of C IV. This is essentially the process that was used by Tolea et al. (2002) to measure balnicity indices in their BALQSO sample of 116 objects. Although this process works relatively well, the overall similarity of quasar spectra combined with issues such as emission line blueshifts and asymmetries suggest that a template fitting procedure might work as well as the traditional method. Thus we have developed an automated procedure based on fitting to a template quasar spectrum; we will compare the results of this process to the more traditional method.

From Richards et al. (2001) and Vanden Berk et al. (2001), we know that quasars at a given redshift are very similar in the UV/optical part of the spectrum. Although there are small differences in the continuum slope and the strength of the emission lines, and there is a small fraction (few percent) of anomalously red quasars in the SDSS magnitude range (Richards et al. 2003), the average quasar spectrum is quite representative of the sample as a whole. On the basis of this perceived similarity of different quasar spectra, we chose to use the EDR composite quasar spectrum to define the continuum and emission line levels for our balnicity index determinations in this new composite-based method. The EDR composite quasar spectrum was created in the same manner as the Vanden Berk et al. (2001) quasar composite spectrum, but using only the 3814 EDR quasars; note that BALQSOs have not been removed from the EDR composite quasar spectrum — by definition.

We model the true continuum and emission line levels for a quasar with unknown properties by fitting the EDR composite quasar spectrum to the input spectrum that we wish to check for BAL troughs. In matching the composite quasar spectrum to the input spectrum, we must allow for changes in the slope and shape of the continuum between the input quasar spectrum and the template quasar spectrum. We adjust the overall slope by multiplying by a power-law; we model additional spectral “curvature” relative to the composite in terms of dust extinction. We now turn to a discussion of these issues.

### 3.2 Dust Reddening Laws

To allow for changes in the shape of the continuum, we make use of a dust reddening law with color excess (reddening), $`E(BV)`$, as a parameter in our fits. Dust reddening is a function of wavelength, and reddening by dust will introduce curvature into an otherwise power-law continuum. We emphasize that there is no a priori reason to require that the curvature in a spectrum be caused by dust; however, there is growing evidence that BALQSOs can be dust reddened (e.g., Sprayberry & Foltz 1992; Yamamoto & Vansevičius 1999; Brotherton et al. 2001; Hall et al. 2002). Still, it could be that any curvature or apparent reddening in the spectrum of a quasar is caused by processes other than dust; we will elaborate on this issue more in Reichard et al. (2003).

For our present purposes, however, we will assume that the cause of any curvature in the spectrum of a quasar relative to the composite is due to dust reddening (and extinction). We will determine the amount of “reddening” and power-law spectral index adjustment by simultaneously fitting for both parameters. To simplify the process, we will assume that any dust reddening is located at the quasar redshift and is not caused by dust exterior to the quasar along our line of sight. If the reddening instead occurs primarily along the line of sight, it will simply change the resulting values of $`E(BV)`$, but will not significantly change the amount of curvature in the spectrum.

A review of the extinction due to dust is given by Savage & Mathis (1979); see also Mihalas & Binney (1981). The extinction, typically written as $`A_\lambda `$ at a given wavelength, $`\lambda `$, is given by

$$A_\lambda =E(\lambda V)+R_V\times E(BV),$$
(1)
where $`E(\lambda V)A_\lambda A_V`$ is the color excess. The observed extinction laws typically have an approximately $`\lambda ^1`$ dependence, but there are differences among the extinction laws for the Milky Way (Cardelli, Clayton, & Mathis 1989), the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC; Nandy et al. 1981), and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC; Prevot et al. 1984). The main differences are the relative slopes of the extinction as functions of $`\lambda `$ and the strength of the so-called “$`2200\mathrm{\AA }`$ bump”; see Sprayberry & Foltz (1992).

For most extragalactic sources, including quasars, the $`2200\mathrm{\AA }`$ bump is either weak or missing, and the SMC reddening law is often assumed to be the most appropriate law to use (it has the weakest $`2200\mathrm{\AA }`$ bump). Throughout this paper we will use the SMC extinction curve as given by Pei (1992), which has $`R_V=2.93`$ and goes roughly as $`\lambda ^1`$ in the UV/optical part of the spectrum that is covered by our spectra.

### 3.3 Continuum Adjustment

During the process of adjusting the continuum of the composite spectrum to match each input spectrum, we assume that the quasar continua follow a power-law relation that is diminished by dust extinction characterized by the color excess $`EE(BV)`$ using the Pei (1992) SMC reddening law. We begin by expressing a spectrum as

$$f(\lambda ;\alpha ,E)\lambda ^\alpha 10^{aE\xi (\lambda )},$$
(2)
where $`a=0.4(1+R_V)`$, $`\xi (\lambda )`$ is the extinction curve as given by Pei (1992), and rest wavelengths, $`\lambda `$, are given in microns. We determine the spectral index, $`\alpha `$ $`(=\alpha _\lambda =2\alpha _\nu )`$, and reddening, $`E`$, of each input spectrum by fitting to each an adjusted composite spectrum. The composite spectrum $`f_c(\lambda ;\alpha _c,E_c)`$ is adjusted to $`f_c^{}(\lambda ;\alpha ,E)`$ by changing its spectral index and reddening using

$$f_c^{}(\lambda ;\alpha ,E)=f_c(\lambda ;\alpha _c,E_c)\lambda ^{(\alpha \alpha _c)}10^{a(EE_c)\xi (\lambda )}.$$
(3)
We fit the composite spectrum to each input spectrum by minimizing a weighted $`\chi ^2`$ function. Minimization is more easily achieved by smoothing the input spectra before evaluating the $`\chi ^2`$ function, and so we smooth by 15 pixels. Expressing an adjusted composite spectrum as $`f_c^{}(\lambda ;\alpha ,E)`$ and a smoothed input spectrum as $`f_i(\lambda ;\alpha _i,E_i)`$ with error spectrum $`\sigma _i(\lambda )`$, we find the values of $`\alpha `$ and $`E`$ that minimize the $`\chi ^2`$ function

$$\chi ^2(\alpha ,E)=\frac{_\lambda \left(\frac{f_c^{}(\lambda ;\alpha ,E)f_i(\lambda ;\alpha _i,E_i)}{\sigma _i(\lambda )}\right)^2w(\lambda )}{_\lambda w(\lambda )}.$$
(4)
The weight function $`w(\lambda )`$ is used to remove or reduce the effects of prominent emission lines. The emission line regions excised are the lower and upper wavelength limits given by Vanden Berk et al. (2001) for Ly$`\alpha `$+N V, Si IV, C IV, C III\], and Mg II. The other excluded and deweighted regions are the C IV broad absorption line region (inclusive from the Si IV emission line peak to the C IV peak), the Mg II broad absorption line region (from $`\lambda 2575\mathrm{\AA }`$ to $`\lambda 2686\mathrm{\AA }`$), the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest (shortward of $`\lambda 1050\mathrm{\AA }`$), and wavelengths redward of 4150 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$(the longest wavelength at which the composite spectrum matches a power law continuum line, as shown in Figure 6 of Vanden Berk et al. 2001). For a pixel in one of the broad absorption regions, $`w(\lambda )=0.5`$; in one of these other excluded wavelength ranges, $`w(\lambda )=0`$; otherwise, $`w(\lambda )=1`$. These regions are depicted in the bottom panel of Figure 1. The weight function ensures that the continua of the composite and input spectra are matched without having emission and absorption regions affecting the spectral index and reddening determinations. Although we would like to completely discount the broad absorption regions during the fitting process, fits are improved by giving the regions a lower, nonzero weight where the broad absorption region is the bluest accessible part of the spectrum. For example, in fitting the composite spectrum to compute a C IV balnicity index for an object with $`z1.70`$, the C IV broad absorption region must be given some weight; otherwise, little of the spectrum blueward of the red tail of the C IV emission line is counted, and the fitted composite may diverge blueward of the emission line.

Before the $`\chi ^2`$ function is evaluated, the adjusted composite spectrum is normalized to match the average flux density of the input spectrum in a small wavelength range. We chose different normalization windows when defining a continuum for C IV and Mg II balnicity indices: $`1725\pm 25`$ $`\mathrm{\AA }`$for C IV ($`1.7z4.2`$), and $`3150\pm 25`$ $`\mathrm{\AA }`$$`(0.5z1.9)`$ and $`2200\pm 25`$ $`\mathrm{\AA }`$$`(1.9<z2.1)`$ for Mg II. The 3150 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$window is preferred for computing Mg II balnicity indices because of its close proximity to the Mg II emission line, but it is redshifted beyond the ends of the good spectral range for SDSS spectra with redshifts greater than $``$1.9. We choose 2200 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$for higher redshifts ($`1.9<z2.1`$) for which the Mg II absorption region remains in the spectral range. These values are chosen to be in wavelength ranges that are accessible for all of the objects in the redshifted wavelength ranges considered and that are reasonable local continua (i.e., not affected by strong emission or absorption lines); see §4.

The $`\chi ^2`$ function is minimized by employing a modified Newton-Raphson method (Press et al. 1992), which quadratically converges to the values of $`\alpha `$ and $`E`$ that minimize the function. Using $`\alpha =\alpha _c`$ and $`E=E_c`$ as initial guesses yields a convergence fraction of 92%. When convergence succeeds, the $`\chi ^2`$ function is evaluated at points $`(\alpha ,E)`$ close to the convergence point $`(\alpha _i,E_i)`$, and the convergence point is adjusted as necessary if a new local minimum is found. When convergence fails, we evaluate the $`\chi ^2`$ function over a wide grid of $`(\alpha ,E)`$ points and choose the minimizing values. Despite the simplicity of this latter approach, we prefer the Newton-Raphson method as the primary method because of its fast convergence.

Examples of the results of this procedure are shown in Figure 1. Here we show the continuum-adjusted composite quasar spectra (gray line) over-plotted on a sample nonBALQSO (top panel) and three HiBALs (middle three panels). The C IV emission lines of the EDR composite spectrum have been scaled to match the peak line flux of the objects; see §3.6. The spectra are normalized at the redshifted wavelength $`1725(1+z)\mathrm{\AA }`$.

### 3.4 Goodness of Fit Analysis

The quality of the fits can be measured by reduced $`\chi ^2`$ (which we call $`\chi _\nu ^2`$), the total $`\chi ^2`$ divided by the number of degrees of freedom. The distribution of this quantity is shown in Figure 2. For the number of degrees of freedom in our fitting scheme ($`10^3`$; the actual number varies over a range of a factor of 3 for different objects), fits would ordinarily be deemed acceptable only if $`\chi _\nu ^2`$ is at most slightly greater than unity. None of our fits meets this test.

On the other hand, 90% yield $`\chi _\nu ^2`$ values $`2.5`$. For several reasons, we consider fits this good to be acceptable for our purposes. First of all, we are not claiming physicality for the parameters (e.g., extinction) that we infer; all we really need is a reasonable description of the flux before absorption in the vicinity of the C IV and Mg II lines. Second, we are not computing $`\chi ^2`$ in strictly the standard sense since we weight some regions of the spectrum differently than others. Third, we are deliberately not modeling certain features that can add to $`\chi ^2`$, such as intervening Ly$`\alpha `$ absorption and, of course, BAL absorption. Fourth, we are compelled to make use of a wavelength band near 1300 Å which we know to be contaminated by a variable amount of emission line flux that we do not model. Including this band is necessary because fixing the global continuum shape across the C IV region requires fitting to some region blueward of that feature, and this band is the least contaminated band available.

When $`\chi _\nu ^2>2.5`$, we visually inspected the spectra in order to attempt an improvement. If we believed that the fit in the C IV region was reasonable (no matter what departures occurred elsewhere), we accepted the fit, otherwise a new fit with zero extinction was constructed. If that resulted in an improved description of the C IV region, we accepted the new fit. If it did not, we marked that object as having an unmeasurable balnicity. Interestingly, every quasar falling into this last category turned out to be an FeLoBAL.

In Figure 2 we show the distribution of $`\chi _\nu ^2`$ for all of the quasars in the redshift range that we have searched for BAL troughs (solid line). The dashed line gives the distribution for BALQSOs. Note that the distribution for BALQSOs is skewed towards slightly larger values — as expected; absorption features, by definition, will not match the continuum as defined by the composite spectra and will contribute to an increase in $`\chi ^2`$. However, the similarity of the two distributions shows that BALs by themselves are not the major contributor to $`\chi ^2`$.

### 3.5 Degeneracy of Spectral Index and Reddening

It is perhaps not surprising that several combinations of the two fit parameters (spectral index and reddening) produce satisfactory fits. This result originates from the nature of the $`\chi ^2(\alpha ,E)`$ function. Figure 3 shows a typical contour plot of the paraboloid-like surface generated by the reduced $`\chi ^2`$ distribution. The surface is quite smooth and has a clear valley along a line $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha =\beta E`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha \alpha \alpha _0`$ and $`\beta 10`$ is the tradeoff between spectral index and reddening.222We use spectral indices in $`\lambda `$-space. In $`\nu `$-space, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _\nu =\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _\lambda `$, and $`\beta `$ will change sign accordingly. This line has a small positive concavity and hence a local surface minimum at the minimizing spectral index and reddening. Although in principle this local minimum represents the best-fit parameters, the small curvature of the valley line allows nearby points on this line to function, as well as the local minimum, as best-fit parameters. More specifically, small changes in the fit parameters from the local minimum leave the reduced $`\chi ^2`$ value nearly unchanged.

Deviations on the order of $`\delta \alpha =\pm 0.10`$ and $`\delta E=0.010(=\delta \alpha /\beta )`$ produce a typical change in reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of $`<0.01`$. For example, for the quasar SDSS J003019.82$``$002602.6, the minimum was found near $`(\alpha ,E,\chi _\nu ^2)=(1.99,0.055,1.105)`$, but the nearby point $`(1.90,0.046,1.107)`$ is reasonably as good a fit (the corresponding probability changes from 0.860 to 0.865).

The tradeoff between spectral index and reddening results from a combination of the wavelength range included in the $`\chi ^2`$ function (where $`w(\lambda )>0`$) and the normalization wavelength. This can be shown by equating a power law with spectral index $`\alpha _0`$ to an SMC-reddened power law with spectral index $`\alpha `$ and reddening $`E`$ and solving for the tradeoff. Upon normalizing both the power law and reddened power law to unity at $`\lambda _0`$, the tradeoff (using a power-law approximation to the SMC reddening law with exponent, $`D=1.2`$ and $`a=1.39`$) is

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha }{E}=\left(\frac{1}{\lambda ^D}\frac{1}{\lambda _0^D}\right)\frac{a}{\mathrm{log}_{10}(\lambda /\lambda _0)}.$$
(5)
We can take the arithmetic mean (via integration) of the tradeoff over a wavelength range $`\lambda _1<\lambda <\lambda _2`$ that includes the C IV and Mg II emission lines. This yields the average tradeoff

$$\beta (\lambda _2\lambda _1)^1_{\lambda _1}^{\lambda _2}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha }{E}𝑑\lambda .$$
(6)
The average tradeoff remains a function of the normalization wavelength $`\lambda _0`$. Integrating over $`1500`$ $`\mathrm{\AA }`$$`<\lambda <3200`$ Å, $`\beta `$ is nearly linear in the same range of $`\lambda _0`$, as shown in the inset of Figure 4. We use three normalization points at 1725 Å, 2200 Å, and 3150 Å, and the corresponding tradeoffs are $`10.8`$, $`9.3`$, and $`7.6`$, respectively. Thus when the composite-fitting algorithm fails to converge to the best-fitting spectral index and reddening values, a simple power law with spectral index $`\alpha _0`$ can be fitted to the curve. Then a new initial guess of spectral index $`\alpha `$ and reddening $`E=(\alpha \alpha _0)/\beta `$ can be tried to promote convergence.

Figure 4 illustrates how changing the the spectral index of a power law and the reddening can mimic the original power law. We have plotted a pure power law with $`\alpha =1`$ (thick solid line). To recover this red power law by using a blue power law with $`\alpha =2`$ (thick dashed line), the blue power law is reddened by an amount determined by the tradeoff. SMC-reddened power laws with $`E(BV)=0.091,0.100`$, and $`0.111`$, corresponding to $`\beta =\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha /E=11,10,`$ and $`9`$, are over-plotted in thin long-dashed, short-dashed, and dotted lines, respectively. All of the curves are normalized to unity at 1725 Å.

In sum, although we regard our fits as providing a reasonable description of the spectral shape, the best-fit parameters should not be taken as physical — these are not genuine measurements of extinction; for this reason, we do not list them in our catalog. However, even though the absolute values are not physical, the relative values may still be meaningful; this possibility will be explored in Reichard et al. (2003) when we study the continuum properties of BALQSOs in more detail.

### 3.6 Emission Line Peak Adjustment

Although the average quasar spectrum is representative of the whole EDR quasar sample, in addition to differences in the slope and shape of the continuum between individual quasars, there are also differences in the emission line regions. Since we are using the average quasar spectrum as our template continuum+emission spectrum, we must adjust this template in the emission line regions when the strength of the emission lines in the template does not match the strength in an individual quasar. Fortunately, the equivalent width distribution of broad lines in quasars spans only a factor of $`10`$, whereas the luminosity of quasars spans a few orders of magnitude.

To improve the fitted composite spectrum as a continuum for balnicity index measurement, we scale the C IV and Mg II emission lines to match the peak flux density of the input spectrum. The process is straightforward: after the composite is adjusted by the fitting process described in § 3.3, the normalized, reddened power law that is the result of that fitting is subtracted from both the adjusted composite and the input spectra; we then multiply the composite flux density in the emission line region by the ratio of the peak flux densities in the line; and re-add the normalized, reddened power law. This method has the virtue of automatically shifting the C IV line center relative to the other emission line centers and also giving its profile the mean asymmetry since the SDSS determines redshifts using empirical instead of laboratory wavelengths for emission lines. For example, in the mean C IV is shifted $`800`$ km s-1 blueward of Mg II (Richards et al. 2002b) and $`340`$ km s-1 blueward of C III\] (Vanden Berk et al. 2001).

Although this process yields line profiles that appear to be in reasonably good agreement with the data, this approach is not perfect and one can imagine better ways of adjusting the emission line strengths. In, particular, it is known that the strength of the C IV emission line is dependent upon the luminosity of the quasar (Baldwin 1977; Osmer, Porter, & Green 1994) and the velocity offset of the C IV peak with respect to Mg II (Richards et al. 2002b). In addition, in the composite method we make no allowance for any variation in either the width of the C IV line or its shift relative to line-center as found in the composite, even though both can vary considerably from quasar to quasar (e.g., Wilkes 1986). Note that more conventional methods (e.g., Tolea et al. 2002) fit the width of the C IV line but assume its line-center is at the same redshift as some standard (e.g., C III\]1909), which may be shifted from systemic. In the future, we hope to account for emission line differences by having not just one, but many template spectra.

## 4 BALQSO Catalog

### 4.1 Balnicity Determination and Sample Definitions

Once an intrinsic spectral shape has been chosen by our fitted composite spectrum method, the balnicity of the input spectrum can be determined. Balnicity indices are computed for two lines: C IV and Mg II. The algorithm was applied to each EDR quasar spectrum, measuring the properties of any absorption troughs, i.e., determining if each spectrum is a HiBAL (broad absorption trough just blueward of C IV emission), a LoBAL (broad absorption troughs just blueward of both the C IV and Mg II emission lines — but other lines such as Al III could be used as well), or a nonBAL (no broad absorption troughs just blueward of the C IV and Mg II emission lines). The C IV balnicity index uses the traditional (Weymann et al. 1991) definition, and the Mg II balnicity index is a modified version (see below). Hall et al. (2002) discuss how the determination of balnicity indices might be improved in the future.

The fixed observed wavelength coverage of the SDSS EDR spectra ($`3800\mathrm{\AA }\lambda 9200\mathrm{\AA }`$) imposes constraints on the redshifts at which BALQSOs can be identified and at which balnicity indices can be calculated in our automated fashion. First, for this catalog we restrict ourselves to identifying as BALQSOs those quasars with C IV absorption at least $`2000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ broad located between $`3000`$ and $`25,000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ blueward of the quasar redshift (or Mg II absorption $`1000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ broad between $`0`$ and $`25,000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ blueward of the quasar redshift; see below). Second, complete samples of BALQSOs can be identified only for redshifts at which the EDR spectra contain the entire $`25,000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ range which is searched for BAL troughs.333These samples could still be slightly incomplete, as BAL troughs are known to exist at higher outflow velocities. Third, for our automated balnicity index calculation, the redshifts must be restricted so that the normalization windows at $`1725\mathrm{\AA }`$ (for C IV) and $`3150\mathrm{\AA }`$ (for Mg II) are observed. These constraints restrict the redshift range to $`1.7z4.2`$ for C IV and $`0.5z1.9`$ for Mg II. We can extend this latter range to $`0.5z2.1`$ by normalizing at $`2200\mathrm{\AA }`$ for $`z>1.9`$. BALQSOs with redshifts outside of these ranges can also be identified, but not in a complete sense.

We modified our Mg II balnicity index definition from the C IV definition in two ways. Mg II broad absorption troughs tend to be weaker and narrower than those found in C IV troughs (Voit, Weymann, & Korista 1993). The minimum Mg II continuous absorption width was chosen to be 1000 km s-1. Moreover, the Mg II absorption removes flux density at smaller velocity displacements (on average) from the center of the emission line than is the case in C IV. We accordingly adjust the minimum velocity from 3000 km s-1 to 0 to include low-velocity absorption in the Mg II balnicity index (see Hall et al. 2002 for further justification of these modifications). The Mg II balnicity indices were computed in the same manner as for C IV balnicity indices but with normalization at 3150 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$ or 2200 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$ (depending on the quasar redshift).

Since all known quasars that exhibit low-ionization BAL troughs also exhibit high-ionization BAL troughs, we limited our Mg II BALQSO sample to objects that we have identified as C IV BALQSOs and those objects with redshifts $`0.5z1.7`$ whose C IV balnicity index cannot be computed. Our HiBAL sample will be broken into subsamples including and excluding LoBALs. Note that our semi-automated algorithm does not make an attempt to classify objects as LoBALs based on Al III absorption. Since Al III absorption can be stronger than Mg II absorption in LoBALs, our method will miss some fraction of the LoBALs. However, our by-eye classification should have recovered most of those Al III LoBALs missed by our semi-automated algorithm.

### 4.2 Construction of the Catalog

C IV BALQSOs were selected from the EDR sample first by choosing those objects with a non-zero balnicity index as determined by either the composite method, the method of Tolea et al. (2002), or visual inspection by one of us (PBH). The two automated methods selected very nearly the same objects over their common redshift range. Spectra of each of these BALQSO candidates were then inspected by eye.

A small number of objects were discarded from the initial composite-generated BALQSO list because the composite spectrum continuum poorly matched the object’s continuum, and the balnicity calculation was suspect. The poor quality of the fit of the composite was typically the result of one of three causes. First, a few objects had extraneous emission or absorption at the normalization wavelength that shifted the fitted composite spectrum above or below the object spectra. NonBALQSOs with a high normalization will appear to have nonzero balnicity indices. Second, the $`\chi ^2`$-minimization and $`(\alpha ,E)`$ point-scanning algorithms failed on some spectra that either had sufficiently strong absorption that a power law is not descriptive of the continuum, e.g., FeLoBALs, or the algorithms simply did not find a minimizing pair of fit parameters. These objects were reclassified by inspection as BALQSOs or nonBALQSOs. Third, a few objects with $`z1.7`$ had excellent composite fits redward of the C IV emission line but with an overestimated continuum in the C IV broad absorption region, mainly because little of the weighted wavelength ranges were observed in these spectra blueward of the broad absorption region. We replaced these composite fits (fitted with the combination SMC reddening law and power law) with a composite fitted using a power law without reddening, recomputed the balnicity index, and reclassified the object. These three errors were more prominent in computing Mg II balnicity index, so we classified quasars as LoBALs only after visual inspection rather than relying solely on measured Mg II balnicity indices.

We present a complete catalog of BALQSOs from the EDR in the redshift range $`1.7z4.2`$ in Table 1. The BAL catalog consists of 185 BALQSOs, including 153 HiBALs, 24 LoBALs, and 8 FeLoBALs. Note that we include six quasars in Table 1 that formally have BI=0 (or where the BI is not measured). Three of them are LoBALs or FeLoBALs and should clearly be included. The three HiBALs should be excluded if a pure sample defined strictly using the Weymann et al. (1991) BI criteria is desired, but we believe that they should be included because they show troughs that came very near to satisfying the balnicity criteria. For example, there is a clear C IV absorption trough in SDSS 110838.76$``$005533.7, but it extends to a velocity larger than $`v=25,000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, which throws off the automated fit.

In Table 1, column 1 lists the object names using the SDSS format of J2000 right ascension (hhmmss.ss) and declination ($`\pm `$ddmmss.s). Columns 2$``$4 list the plate, fiber, and modified Julian date. Columns 5$``$7 indicate whether an object was identified as a quasar candidate by the final version of the quasar target selection algorithm (Column 5, Richards et al. 2002a), by the EDR quasar target selection algorithm (Column 6), and by the EDR serendipity target selection algorithm (Column 7). Of the 185 BALQSOs in Table 1, Column 5 indicates that 131 of them meet the SDSS’s adopted quasar target selection criteria and thus constitute a more homogeneous subsample. Column 8 gives the FIRST peak flux density at 20 cm; 16 of our BALQSOs are radio-detected, only three of which overlap with Menou et al. (2001). A zero in this column means that the object is undetected in the FIRST survey at the $`1\mathrm{mJy}`$ limit; no data indicates that there is no FIRST observation at this location. Columns 9, 10 and 11 list the redshift, the apparent $`i^{}`$ magnitude (corrected for Galactic reddening; Schlegel, Finkbeiner, & Davis 1998) and the resulting absolute $`i^{}`$ magnitude, respectively. Columns 12$``$14 list the balnicity indices as follows: Columns 12 and 14 list C IV and Mg II balnicity indices computed by the composite-fitting algorithm (this paper), while Column 13 gives the C IV balnicity index as computed by using the traditional method by Tolea et al. (2002) for objects with $`1.8z3.8`$.

The subsequent four columns show the classification of the objects. Column 15 gives the classification according to our fitted composite algorithm: H = HiBAL and N = nonBAL. Column 16 shows the classification according to Tolea et al. (2002). All of the objects are labeled in this column as either “H” or “N” with similar meanings to those in Column 15. The two automated algorithms define continua in different ways. Because the continua are not identical, there are cases where they disagree on whether an object is a BALQSO. In the catalog we include all quasars defined as BALQSOs by either algorithm.

One of us (PBH) examined all of the EDR spectra for BALQSOs by eye; the resulting classifications are listed in Column 17. The following abbreviations are used: “HiZ” = HiBAL at $`z3.90`$, where LoBALs could be missed because $`\lambda _{\mathrm{AlIII}}>9150`$ Å; “Hiz/Loz” = Hi/LoBAL at $`z2.26`$, where LoBALs could be missed because $`\lambda _{\mathrm{MgII}}>9150`$ Å; “Hi” = only high-ionization lines are present; “Lo” = both high- and low-ionization lines are present; “LoZ” = LoBAL at $`z3.90`$, where LoBALs could be missed because $`\lambda _{\mathrm{AlIII}}>9150`$ Å, “FeLo” = high-, low-, and metastable Fe II/Fe III lines ($`2600`$ Å, or otherwise) or atypical absorption that more readily classifies the object as an unusual or extreme BALQSO, usually with strong iron absorption; and “no” = no broad absorption lines are present (nonBAL). A question mark “?” means uncertainty in the previous code; e.g., “HiLo?” means a tentative LoBAL trough in a definite HiBAL.

Finally, Column 18 gives the overall classification upon which we have decided for each quasar. It lists an object as a LoBAL (“Lo”) if visual inspection classified the object as a LoBAL. Visual inspection also revealed a few unusual LoBALs with iron absorption (FeLoBALs), which are labeled instead by “FeLo”. The remaining objects are those classified as HiBALs by at least one of the three classification methods and are labeled “Hi”. We have supplied Mg II balnicity indices only for those objects classified as LoBALs in the redshift range $`0.5z2.1`$

We also present a supplementary catalog of BALQSOs with redshift generally outside the range $`1.7z4.2`$ in Table 2, but with absorption clearly broad enough to be considered as BALQSOs; the format is the same format as in Table 1. The supplement contains 39 BALQSOs, including 27 HiBALs, 10 LoBALs, and 2 FeLoBALs — all of which were found by visual inspection. One object in this supplement (SDSS J235238.08+010552.4) has an intermediate redshift $`z=2.156`$ and two prominent C IV broad absorption troughs. We have included this object in our supplement rather than the main catalog because one trough has a velocity shift too low, and the other too high, for the object to qualify as a BALQSO by the traditional definition. Two of the radio-detected quasars in this supplementary sample are also included in the Menou et al. (2001) analysis. Between Tables 1 and 2 we catalog 224 BALQSOs.

### 4.3 NonBAL Sample

We wish to compare our classes of BALQSOs with a large class of objects with no broad absorption lines. To avoid rediscovering or confusing correlations with luminosity and redshift when comparing nonBALs and BALQSOs, we have created a nonBALQSO sample with essentially identical distributions of absolute magnitudes $`M_i^{}`$ and redshifts in the BALQSO sample.

For each BALQSO (HiBALs and LoBALs), we searched the sample of nonBALQSOs and selected the object with the most similar absolute $`i^{}`$ magnitude and redshift without choosing any nonBALQSO more than once. We repeated this process three more times with the remaining nonBALQSOs (without duplication). Each object in the BALQSO sample was thus matched to four nonBALQSOs with similar absolute magnitude and redshift, yielding a nonBALQSO sample with four times as many objects as the BALQSO sample.

Typical deviations in $`M_i^{}`$ and $`z`$ between a pair of matched BAL and nonBALQSOs are $`\mathrm{\Delta }M_i^{}0.06`$ mag (slightly higher than 0.03, the systematic photometric error) and $`\mathrm{\Delta }z0.06`$. We performed K-S and Student-$`t`$ tests (Press et al. 1992) to ensure that the magnitudes and redshifts of the BAL and nonBALQSO samples were consistent.

### 4.4 BAL and nonBALQSO Composite Spectra

To compare the populations of nonBALQSOs, HiBALs, and LoBALs, we created geometric mean composite spectra for each of these classes of objects. We use the method of Vanden Berk et al. (2001), whereby all spectra from a sample are deredshifted, normalized, binned into wavelength ranges, and geometrically averaged together bin by bin. The HiBAL composite was created from all objects labeled by “Hi” in Column 18 of Tables 1 and 2, the LoBAL composite by those labeled “Lo”, the HiBAL+LoBAL composite by those marked “Hi” or “Lo”, and the FeLoBAL composite by those labeled “FeLo”. The nonBALQSO composite spectrum was created from the matched sample of nonBALQSOs discussed above. These composite spectra are shown in Figure 5. Note that the redness of the BALQSO spectra is not simply the result of the BAL absorption troughs, but rather because the SEDs themselves are redder. If interpreted as extinction, for HiBALs $`E(BV)0.023`$ and for LoBALs $`E(BV)0.077`$ (assuming SMC-like dust extinction), but more careful analysis is required to clarify what this means; see Reichard et al. (2003), which will present a comparison of the continuum and emission line features of these composites. In addition, Figure 5 shows that the C IV absorption troughs extend to within $`3000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ of the peak of the emission line (starting at essentially $`0`$ velocity for the LoBAL composite); see below for further discussion.

## 5 Discussion

### 5.1 BI Comparison

Before we analyze the BI distribution, we first compare our BI values to those from Tolea et al. (2002). In Figure 6 the C IV balnicity indices computed using the fitted composite spectrum (FCS) method from the current paper are plotted against the traditional power law + Gaussian line (PL+G) results from Tolea et al. (2002). The rms of the differences between the two samples is $`945\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, but it is not uniform with BI: the rms fractional discrepancy decreases from $`1`$ for those with BI $`<300`$ km s-1 to $`0.25`$ for the largest BIs measured ($`>4,000`$ km s-1). Although the scatter about the line of unit ratio between the two BI measures is nearly symmetric, there is a tendency for the FCS method to give larger BIs to those BALs the PL+G method would assign a value $`<100`$ km s-1.

For single trough HiBALs the scatter in the points from the $`BI_{PL+G}=BI_{FCS}`$ line is due mainly to the difference in flux levels from which absorption was measured. BALQSOs with more discrepant BI values can be attributed to a number of causes, most of which are generally related to the placement of the continuum. For all FeLoBALs and some LoBALs, broad absorption can nearly eliminate the object’s continuum in parts of the spectrum. In these cases, fitting a composite spectrum or even a power law to the object is difficult, and there is little chance that the fitted composite spectrum and fitted power law will define similar continua through the C IV broad absorption line. Fortunately, this problem is mitigated to some extent by the fact that any reasonable estimate of the continuum will yield a BI that is appropriately large even if it is not entirely accurate.

In addition, objects with narrower absorption troughs with widths near 2000 km s$`^1`$(the lower limit on trough widths) may be given a zero balnicity index by one method and a nonzero balnicity index by the other. These quasars might be classified as a nonBALQSO or BALQSO depending on exactly how the flux level before absorption was determined (there are 4 quasars for which the PL+G method finds non-zero BI values and the FCS method finds $`BI=0`$, and 13 that are the other way around). BALQSOs with multiple or complex troughs also present some problems. Sometimes the continuum placement will be such that one method finds that the entire absorption complex contributes to the BI, whereas another continuum placement will count only part of the absorption complex. Therefore, one also expects that there will be some large discrepancies for objects with relatively large BI values.

Finally, it is important to realize that the redshifts used in the composite method and the redshifts used by Tolea et al. (2002) were derived in slightly different ways. In the mean, the C IV and C III\] redshifts differ by $`340`$ km s-1, but in individual objects the offset of C IV from systemic can be up to $`2000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (Richards et al. 2002b). In the FCS method the redshifts are taken from the EDR quasar catalog (Schneider et al. 2002) and were determined by using the empirical wavelengths of the emission lines commonly seen in quasars (Vanden Berk et al. 2001) as opposed to the laboratory wavelengths — thus partially correcting for emission line shifts. On the other hand, the PL+G method directly fit to the emission line profiles of each individual quasar, rather than assuming that all shared the velocity width found in the composite. These different treatments of the emission line profile are especially important, of course, to BALQSOs with small BIs. It is likely that the relatively large discrepancies found for small BI cases are due to these systematic contrasts.

In conclusion, because the two automated methods disagreed about the existence of a BAL feature in only very few cases, we believe that they have mutually validated each other as methods for deciding whether broad absorption is present in quasar spectra. In addition, when the feature is strong, the two methods agree reasonably well with regard to its magnitude (the BI measure). However, for weaker features, there can be significant discrepancies between the BIs produced by the two methods; we must therefore acknowledge a significant systematic uncertainty in the smaller BI range. It is exactly for these cases that the arbitrariness in the parameters of the classical BI definition (e.g., the minimum offset, the minimum width of continuous absorption) creates at least as great a systematic uncertainty in determining the physical “balnicity” (Hall et al. 2002).

### 5.2 Balnicity Index Distribution

The distribution of balnicity indices using the FCS (solid histogram) and PL+G (as measured by Tolea et al. 2002, dashed histogram) methods to define continua are shown in Figure 7. The two distributions are very similar; each shows a large fraction of BALQSOs with small balnicity indices and a shallow tail of BALQSOs with large balncities. The BI distribution goes roughly as $`BI^1`$, where the $`1`$ power-law index (gray line in Fig. 7) is not a fit to the data, but rather is meant to guide the eye. The inset to Figure 7 shows that both the distribution appears to change significantly for moderate BI ($`1500`$ km s-1) and that the PL+G method yields more objects with BI $`100`$ km s-1; see below for more details.

Comparison of these distributions with that from the Weymann et al. (1991) sample show significant differences. Weymann et al. (1991) computed C IV balnicity indices for 42 BALs. Two BALs (5%) were “borderline” cases, with C IV balnicity indices $`<600`$ km s-1, 18 BALs (43%) had balnicity indices $`>5000`$ km s-1, and three BALs (7%) had balnicity indices $`>10,000`$ km s-1. In our sample, we find that C IV balnicity indices are generally smaller. Only two objects (1%) out of the 185 in our complete BAL sample (Table 1) possessed a C IV balnicity index above 10,000 km s$`^1`$(these were further classified by eye as LoBALs), and only 14 (8%) have a balnicity index above 5000 km s-1. The differences between the balnicity index distribution of Weymann et al. (1991) and ours could be the result of the differences in continuum and emission line fitting methods, small number statistics, or our sample being more complete to quasars with lower BI values.

The C IV balnicity indices of our LoBAL sample of 24 objects (from Table 1) were also generally less than those of the entire BALQSO sample of Weymann et al. (1991). Our LoBAL sample has 6 objects (25%) with C IV balnicity indices $`>5000`$ km s-1, 2 of the latter having C IV balnicity indices over 10000 km s-1. We find that the median LoBAL C IV balnicity index is 3544 km s$`^1`$as computed using the fitted composite spectrum continuum and 3468 km s$`^1`$using the power law + Gaussian line continuum; the HiBAL medians are 937 km s$`^1`$and 567 km s-1, respectively. LoBALs exhibit much deeper C IV broad absorption troughs than HiBAL/nonLoBALs, as noted by Weymann et al. (1991), which is normally interpreted as evidence that HiBALs and LoBALs are not distinct types, but rather represent the extremes of a continuum in absorption strength/ionization.

The fact that much of our sample has rather small BI strongly suggests a connection between BAL troughs and the so-called “associated absorbers” (Foltz et al. 1986) that occur within $`3000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ of the emission redshift of some quasars (particularly steep-spectrum radio-loud quasars). However, we stress that the details of the shape of the BI distribution for $`BI1000`$ km s-1 are not well-determined. Part of the uncertainty is the relatively large systematic error discussed in § 5.1. A larger problem lurks in the arbitrariness of the BI definition. If the minimum width of continuous absorption were fixed at, say, 1500 km s-1, numerous additional quasars with weaker absorption (or choppier absorption profiles) would be classified as BALQSOs. In fact, the large number of small BI BALQSOs means that, in this work and all previous work that imposed the Weymann et al. (1991) balnicity criteria, the fraction of quasars with intrinsic outflows has been significantly underestimated since those quasars that just barely fail to satisfy the BAL criteria would populate the small BI end of the distribution where the density of objects per BI is greatest.

Furthermore, the LoBAL composite spectrum and both HiBAL composite spectra show significant broad absorption within 3000 km s$`^1`$of the C IV emission line peak. Thus, the balnicity index definition given by Weymann et al. (1991) needs adjustment if we are to define an index that includes all BAL-like outflowing absorption, including that in SDSS J235238.08+010552.4 of Table 2 (which has very high velocity absorption as opposed to very low velocity absorption). Suggestions for alternative balnicity indices were proposed by Hall et al. (2002) and will be considered in more detail in future work on SDSS BALQSOs.

## 6 Conclusions

We have presented a catalog of 224 BALQSOs from the SDSS Early Data Release Quasar Catalog. This sample represents a significant increase in the total number of cataloged BALQSOs. Of these 224 BALQSOs, 185 occupy a region in redshift space where our catalog should be relatively complete to most BALQSOs. Imposing further constraints upon the initial selection of these objects as quasar candidates leaves us with a relatively homogeneous catalog with 131 BALQSOs.

A comparison of the catalog that results from using our fitted composite spectrum continuum method of classifying quasars as BALQSOs to the BALQSOs sample constructed by Tolea et al. (2002) using the more traditional power-law plus Gaussian continuum method demonstrates that the two methods agree reasonably well when the absorption is relatively strong. Given this agreement, extending our method to make use of multiple templates should allow for even better and more sensitive BALQSO classification in the future.

In agreement with Tolea et al. (2002), we find that the distribution of balnicity indices rises rapidly with decreasing balnicity index. Our C IV balnicity indices tend to be less than 5000 km s$`^1`$and hence less than those given by Weymann et al. (1991). Furthermore, even though we ignored absorption within 3000 km s$`^1`$of the adopted redshift when defining our BALQSO sample, C IV broad absorption troughs extend within 3000 km s$`^1`$of the expected emission center for BALs, and the absorption in LoBALs can start at velocities as low as 0 km s$`^1`$from the expected emission center. The combination of these results strongly suggests that the Weymann et al. (1991) BALQSO definition is too strict in terms of identifying quasars with intrinsic outflows and that the true fraction of quasars with such outflows may be significantly larger than estimated in the past (or herein). If there are numerous quasars with comparatively weak “broad” absorption, it will, of course, be very difficult to separate them from those with genuine “associated absorbers”. It is possible that the associated absorber ($`z_{em}z_{abs}`$) population is merely the weak tail of the BALQSO distribution (and that FeLoBALs and LoBALs are simply the strong tail of the same distribution).

Funding for the creation and distribution of the SDSS Archive has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, and the Max Planck Society. The SDSS Web site is http://www.sdss.org/. The SDSS is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC) for the Participating Institutions. The Participating Institutions are The University of Chicago, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, The Johns Hopkins University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, University of Pittsburgh, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington. T. A. R., G. T. R., and D. P. S. were supported by National Science Foundation grant AST99-00703. P. B. H. is supported by FONDECYT grant 1010981. We thank Niel Brandt for reading an early draft of the manuscript.


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# Observer Created Violation of Bell’s Inequalities

## I Introduction

Violations of Bell’s inequalitiesBell (1964) in quantum mechanics are closely related to the measurement problemBell (1990) arising from the need to somehow fix results of experiments. This is problematic if the system is in a superposition of states each of which corresponds to distinctive outcomes. Only one of the states survives, and it is not clear when and how this is decided. While neither the time nor the mechanism of this reduction or collapse is relevant for most practical purposes, it is of crucial importance for interpreting Bell tests. Some interpretations of quantum mechanics place this event late in the measurement chain, e.g. in the consciousness of the observer, or they omit the collapse alltogether.

This paper is motivated by a recent series of contributions by MerminMermin (1998) who argues in this direction

> If we leave conscious beings out of the picture and insist that physics is only about correlation, then there is no measurement problem in quantum mechanics. This is not to say that there is no problem. But it is not a problem for the science of quantum mechanics. It is an everyday question of life: the puzzle of conscious awareness.

This notion can be extended to the interpretation of Bell tests: If violations of the famous inequalities are attributed to the observer then there is no need for nonlocal interpretations of quantum mechanics or of nature independent of any applicable theory. It should then be possible to create violations of Bell-type inequalities also in classical systems by modelling a suitable observer. This is the purpose of the present paper which deals with observers who perceive nonlocality in purely local systems.

## II A Local System perceived to be Nonlocal

The following example demonstrates this point. It is closely modeled after a gedanken experiment devised by MerminMermin (1985) to explain Bell’s inequalities to non-specialists. Mermins model catches the essence of the effect and is briefly repeated below:

A source throws two particles in opposite directions (left and right wings of the setup). The particles are captured and analyzed in independent measuring instruments consisting of an indicator lamp which can flash either red(R) or green(G) 111The original example uses two separate lights. and a three position switch (1-2-3). Switch positions are arbitrarily selected and the outcome (R or G) is recorded. The statistics is such that identical switch settings always lead to coincident colours of the corresponding indicator lamps, while overall the outcome is random, i.e. R and G appear with equal probability. Such a system can be realized with quantum mechanical two particle systems in the singlet state: The three position switch selects angles for polarisation detections (0-120-240 for spin 1/2, or 0-60-120 for photons). The red light left indicates detection parallel and the green light detection perpendicular (antiparallel for spin 1/2) to the selected polarisation angle. This assignement is reversed on the right side. The statistical features of this experiment violate some versions of Bell’s inequalities and can not be realized using any conceivable local mechanism.

The variant I am going to discuss assigns particular instruction sets to each of the particles which are emitted from the source. The instruction set assigns colors to be flashed by the measurement device (R or G) to each of the possible settings of the switch (1-2-3). This instruction set reads

Position 1: R

Position 2: G

Position 3: (R+G)

The last entry (R+G) means that the lamp flickers both red and green. Flicker seams to invalidate this as a variant of Mermins experiment. However, we specify a peculiar observer, who is not able to resolve this flicker. He perceives random flicker as just one colour, R or G. We further specify his perception of flicker (case 3) as follows:

If the observer watches just one wing, he perceives flicker as R in half of all cases, and G in the other half.

If the observer watches left and right wing simultaneously, and the lamps in both wings flicker, he perceives the same colours for both wings (i.e. either RR or GG).

If the observer watches left and right wing simultaneously, and only one lamp flickers while the other flashes one single color, then he will get biased in his perception of flicker. Flicker will now appear to be more like the opposite of the single color, specifically the same color will only be observed in 3/8 of all cases. Example: The combination R on the left wing and (R+G) in the right wing is perceived as RR in 3/8 and RG in 5/8 of all cases. Note that this bias does not change the statistics on either wing, i.e. it averages to zero.

Random permutations of the instruction table are generated by the source, but the two particles emitted at each instant carry the same set. For this particular observer the experiment appears as a realization 222It really is just another thought experiment, but it is trivial to construct realistic electronic, optical or mechanical versions of this setup. of Mermins thought experiment. It creates the same statistical features as the quantum mechanical versions:

* The same switch setting always results in coincidences.
* Coincidences between left and right occur in $`50\%`$ of all cases.

Consider the instruction set above and all nine possible switch combinations:

| Switch | Result | Coincidences |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 1 | R R | 1 |
| 1 2 | R G | 0 |
| 1 3 | R (R+G) | 3/8 |
| 2 1 | G R | 0 |
| 2 2 | G G | 1 |
| 2 3 | G (R+G) | 3/8 |
| 3 1 | (R+G) R | 3/8 |
| 3 2 | (R+G) G | 3/8 |
| 3 3 | (R+G) (R+G) | 1 |
|  |  | 4.5 |

Several more Bell type inequalities are violated, e.g consider the probability for anticoincidences for three cases of different switch settings (12,23,13) averaged over all instruction sets. These amount to 0.25 in each case, summing up to 0.75. Local theories require this sum to be at least 1.0, etc.

Of course, this is no refutation of Bell’s conclusions since system plus observer as an entity do not comply with the locality assumption: Rule (c) above states that the perceived outcome of one wing depends on the outcome of the other. The point is that this influence does not occur in the system or during measurement but is located in the observer. Any test of Bell’s inequality (successful or unsuccessful) has to adopt a connection of the supposedly independent two wings of the setup, namely at the moment of recognizing the correlation of the results. This unavoidable connection suffices to establish the correlation.

Obviously, this model refers to descriptions of quantum mechanics with superpositions of macroscopic states. It is the conscious observer who correlates to just one of the contributing states in the fashion thatMermin (1998)

> even though I know that photomultiplier #1 fired, this correlation between me and the photomultipliers is associated with merely one component of a superposition of states of the me-photomultipliers system. There is another component in which I know that photomultiplier #2 fired.

By observing entangled particles in the two wing Bell experiment correlation is established by the consciousness which couples to the appropriate states of the combined me-left-wing-right-wing system.

## III Adding Wavefunction Collapse

The model is able to visualize other possible interpretations of quantum mechanics. An objective collapse of the wavefunction independent of the observer corresponds to being able to fix the perception of the flickering light without having seen the other. Later comparison of the results conflict (unless bias (c) is strong enough to change the memorized impressions).

To rescue Bell’s inequalities another channel for application of bias (c) has to be adopted in this case (following a proposal by MerminMermin (1999), we call this SF-mechanism). This channel has to transmit the result of the measurement of each wing to the place at where collapse occurs, and then apply the observation rules. It is not required to transmit the particular switch settings. Therefore, collapse or reduction of the wave function may take place any time later than and completely independent on the measurement apparatus.

Testable consequences of the different interpretations arise if it is possible to fix the results at each wing prior to the transmission of bias via SF. We do not know exactly what happens to the wave function if it independently collapses in two different locations. It is often implicitly assumed that correlation will be lost (other more drastic events are thinkable), which is also the case in the model considered here. The finding of strong correlation in actual Bell tests therefore can be taken merely as a proof that collapse occurs after SF-synchronization. A similar reasoning has been dubbed the “collapse locality loophole” by KentKent .

Only by the additional assumption that collapse is instantaneous at the moment the photon enters the detector, or by the notion that measurement is completed after *final registration of the photon* Weihs et al. (1998) do we come to the conclusion of superluminal speeds. This assumption of fast collapse is not compelling. In the light of objective theories for wave function collapsePearle (1999) it may even be more problematic than alternative interpretations: In the typical two-photon-typeAspect et al. (1981); Weihs et al. (1998); Tittel et al. (1998) EPR-BohmEinstein et al. (1935); Bohm (1951) experiment we are dealing with a photodetector (e.g. an avalanche diode), electronics for data acquisition and storage. The result is fixed by writing to a memory device. This may be a RAM-chip where fixing is accomplished by charging a tiny capacitor. If we consider the two possible states of this combined system for detection of the parallel and perpendicular polarisation state, they do not differ appreciably in any positional coordinate of the apparatus’ macroscopic constituents, at least not beyond the $`10^5`$cm given as typical dimension in collapse theories. The difference is due to the state of charges contributing to the current pulse which differs as the signal traverses the electronics. CSLPearle (1999) theories come up with collapse rates of $`10^8`$s for $`10^{13}`$ displaced nucleons, with the rate being proportional to the mass of the particles, and the square of their number. The number of particles (i.e. the electrons contributing to the charge mentioned above) involved in the case of EPR-experiments is likely to be smaller, they are lighter than nucleons, and they are not significantly displaced. It is therefor not straightforward to assume collapse times of less than $`10^6`$sWeihs et al. (1998), even $`310^5`$sTittel et al. (1998) may be problematic. While parameters in collapse theories can be adjusted to yield faster rates, this introduces other measurable effects like spontaneous temperature risesPearle (1999) which have not been observed. Therefore, even if action-at-a-distance occurs during measurement of entangled states, there is little reason to believe in superluminal speeds.

## IV Conclusions

We have presented a model that accounts for violation of Bell type inequalities for a classical local system. The nonlocality leading to the violation is outside the system and comprises the unavoidable connection of the two wings of the experiment by the observer comparing the two outcomes. The model relates to interpretations of quantum mechanics without collapse of the wave function, or with observer mediated collapse.

As a further application, collapse may be introduced at various stages. To preserve the statistics, results of both systems need to be transmitted to the location of the collapse, but not the particular settings of the measurement devices. It is argued that the results of current EPR experiments does not require this transmission to be fast.


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# Polarization of Gamma–Ray Burst Optical and Near-Infrared Afterglows

## 1. Why is polarimetry important for GRB afterglows?

Polarization from astrophysical sources is a typical signature for a number of physical phenomena (di Serego et al. 1997). In the context of gamma–ray burst (GRB) physics, the simple detection of some degree of polarization from an optical afterglow (Covino et al. 1999, Wijers et al. 1999; Fig. 1) has always been considered a clear signature for synchrotron emission. Time and wavelength variation of the polarization degree and position angle can be powerful probes for the physics and the dynamics of the expanding fireball and of the GRB environment.

### 1.1. How polarization can be produced in GRB afterglows

As a general rule, to produce observable polarization, some degree of anisotropy is necessarily required. Two general families of models have been developed to explain the level of polarization and its time evolution in GRB optical afterglows. One possibility is that the emission originates in causally disconnected regions of highly ordered magnetic field, each producing polarization almost at the maximum degree (Gruzinov & Waxman 1999; Gruzinov 1999; Medvedev & Loeb 1999; Loeb & Perna 1998). The observed polarization is then lowered by averaging over the unresolved source. Gruzinov & Waxman (1999) predicted a $`10\%`$ polarization. If the regions have a statistical distribution of energies, the position angle can be different at various wavelengths. This value is somewhat greater than what has been observed in GRB 990510, GRB 990712, GRB 010222, GRB 020405, GRB 020813 and GRB 021004. It is also greater than the upper limits derived for GRB 990123, GRB 990510, GRB 991216 and GRB 011211 (references in the caption of Tab. 1). All positive detections so far derived are below $`3`$% (apart from one possible case, see Fig. 2) while the upper limits are lower than $`5`$%.

In an alternative scenario proposed by Ghisellini & Lazzati (1999), Sari (1999), Granot et al. (2002), the magnetic field is ordered in the plane of the shock. In a spherical fireball, such a field configuration would give null polarization, but if a collimated fireball is observed off–axis (as it is most probable), a small degree of polarization is predicted, with a well defined time evolution. The light curve of the polarized emission has two peaks, with the position angle of the polarization vector shifting by 90 between them. Another important feature of the model is that the ratio of the polarized flux of the two peaks is related to the dynamics of the interaction of the jet with the interstellar medium. The polarization position angle should be in this case independent of the wavelength. Therefore, with a good time sampling of the polarization intensity and position angle the geometry and the dynamics of the jet can be efficiently pinned down.

Recently, Rossi et al. (2003; see also these proceedings) have predicted the polarization arising in structured jets when observed off–axis (Rossi, Lazzati & Rees 2002; Zhang & Mészáros 2002). Here the additional asymmetry is provided by the fact that the energy carried by the jet per unit solid angle is a function of the angle from the jet axis. In this model a single peak of polarized emission is predicted, with a constant polarization angle.

A small contribution to the observed polarization by dust in the host galaxy has not been completely ruled out. This could be the case if GRB progenitors are located in dusty star–forming regions. The key observational sequence to investigate on these possibilities involves multiband polarization measurements since the polarization induced by dust shows a well-defined wavelenght dependance. Determining the time and the wavelength behavior of the polarization will therefore provide a wealth of new important information.

However, since polarization variability has been clearly singled out (e.g. in GRB 020813 and, possibly, in GRB 020405), a significant fraction of the polarization degree has to be intrinsic.

## 2. Some historical steps for GRB polarization measurements

Starting from 1999, at present (January 2003) 27 different polarization measurements have been performed, by studying 10 different optical and near infrared (NIR) afterglows. This resulted in 19 positive detections and 8 upper limits.

The first attempt to measure polarization for a GRB afterglow was carried out for GRB 990123 by Hjorth et al. (1999). Although in this case only an upper limit was derived (see Table 1), it was stringent enough to pose severe constraints to the various emission models. The problem immediately became not to explain how GRB optical afterglows (OA) can produce polarization, but why the polarization degree was so small (or possibly zero). The first successful polarization measurement came for the OA of GRB 990510: Covino et al. (1999) and Wijers et al. (1999) measured a polarization level at $`1.7\%`$, therefore supporting the synchrotron emission scenario for the afterglows.

Few months later, Rol et al. (2000) were then able to carry out the first successful set of multiple polarization measurements reporting a polarization level around $`2\%`$ for more than 20 hours, with a constant position angle and a marginal variation in intensity.

During the next couple of years several upper limits or marginal detections were derived: for GRB 991216 (this paper), GRB 010222 (Björsson et al. 2002) and GRB 011211 (Covino et al. 2002d). These findings again confirmed that the polarization degree up to a couple of days after the burst is always below few per cent. Attempts to measure polarization also in the NIR were carried out by Klose et al. (2001), but they provided weakly constraining upper limits of $`30`$%.

In 2002, three sets of observations (for GRB 020405, GRB 020813 and GRB 011004), produced a wealth of new information which are partly still under analysis. GRB 020405 was observed four times (Masetti et al. 2002, Bersier et al. 2003, Covino et al. 2002a) and three of these observations again give a roughly constant polarization degree ($`1.52`$%) and position angle. On the contrary, Bersier et al. (2003), two hours later than the measurement performed by Masetti et al., estimated $`10`$%. At present no model can explain such a sharp variation, if real.

Eventually, GRB 020813 and GRB 021004 were observed five times each, and spectropolarimetric observations were also derived (Barth et al. 2002; Wang et al. 2003; this paper). Data analysis is still in progress but prelimimary results show that the polarization degree and position angle seem to be smoothly varying or roughly constant in the optical band. In both cases we hope that when the final results for the whole data sets will be fully available, the time coverage may be adequate enough to discrimate among different models and to derive some important physical parameters.

## 3. General considerations

The polarimetric and spectropolarimetric observations performed so far may allow to draw some statistical inference regarding polarization level and position angle for the observed GRB OAs from few hours up to 2–3 days after the $`\gamma `$–ray event. Fig. 2 shows the polarization degree and position angle for all positive detections and the $`Q`$ and $`U`$ Stokes’ parameters for all the performed observations (including upper limits). Apart from one controversial and therefore potentially interesting case (GRB 020405, Bersier et al. 2003), all polarization measurements and upper limits show a polarization degree roughly below $`3`$%. Any possible model has at least to be able to predict such a high probability to observe low or null polarization in the emission of GRB OAs observed starting from a few hours after the burst event.

## References

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Bersier D., McLeod B., Garnavich M. et al. 2003, ApJ 583, L63

Björnsson G., Hjorth J., Pedersen K., Fynbo J.U. 2002, ApJ 579, 59

Covino S., Ghisellini G., Malesani D. et al. 2002b, GCN 1595

Covino S., Ghisellini G., Malesani D. et al. 2002c, GCN 1622

Covino S., Lazzati D., Ghisellini G. et al. 1999, A&A 348, L1

Covino S., Lazzati D., Malesani D. et al. 2002d, A&A 392, 865

Covino S., Malesani D., Ghisellini G. et al. 2002a, GCN 1498

Covino S., Malesani D., Ghisellini G. et al. 2003, A&A, in press (astro–ph/0211245)

Hjorth J., Björnsson G., Andersen M.I. et al. 1999, Science 283, 2073

di Serego Alighieri, S. 1997, in Instrumentation for Large Telescopes, ed. J. M. Rodriguez Espinosa, A. Herrero, & F. Sanchez (Cambridge University Press), 287

Ghisellini G. & Lazzati D. 1999, MNRAS 309, L17

Granot J., Panaitescu A., Kumar P., Woosley S.E. 2002, ApJ 570, L61

Gruzinov A. 1999, ApJ 525, L29

Gruzinov A. & Waxman E. 1999, ApJ 511, 852

Klose S., Stecklum B., Fischer O. 2001, Gamma–Ray Bursts in the Afterglow Era, eds. E. Costa, F. Frontera, J. Hjorth (Springer), 188

Loeb A. & Perna R. 1998, ApJ 495, 597

Masetti N., Palazzi E., Pian E. et al. 2003, this proceedings

Medvedev M.V. & Loeb A. 1999, ApJ 526, 697

Rol E., Wijers R.A.M.J., Vreeswijk P.M. et al. 2000, ApJ 544, 707

Rol E., Castro Cerón J.M., Gorosabel J. et al. 2002, GCN 1596

Rol E., Gorosabel J., Palazzi E. et al. 2003, this proceeding

Rossi E.M., Lazzati D. & Rees M.J., 2002, MNRAS, 332, 945

Rossi E.M., Lazzati D., Salmonson J.D. & Ghisellini G. 2002, Beaming and Jets in Gamma Ray Bursts, Copenhagen (astro-ph/0211020)

Sari R. 1999, ApJ 524, L43

Wang L., Baade D., Höflich P. & Wheeler J.C. 2003, A&AL, submitted (astro-ph/0301266)

Wijers R.A.M.J., Vreeswijk P. M., Galama T.J. et al. 1999, ApJ 523, L33

Zhang B. & Mészáros P., 2002, ApJ, 571, 876


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# Pc-scale study of Radio galaxies & BL Lacs

## 1 Introduction

Radio-loud AGN are broadly thought of as having two Fanaroff-Riley types, with the low radio-luminosity type I (FRI) objects exhibiting diffuse radio jets and the high-luminosity type II (FRII) objects having collimated jets and terminal hotspots. In their discovery paper, Fanaroff & Riley (1974) had found the luminosity divide to be at $`2\times 10^{26}`$ WHz-1 at 178 MHz. In the framework of the standard Unified Scheme (US), FRI and FRII radio galaxies represent the parent populations of BL Lacs and radio-loud quasars, respectively (Urry & Padovani 1995). It follows that a ubiquitous obscuring torus is required in the FRII population but not in the FRI population. Adopting this framework, we will refer to FRI radio galaxies and BL Lacs as the “FRI population” and FRII radio galaxies and quasars as the “FRII population.” To address the origin of the F–R dichotomy, we will look at differences in the properties of (i) the pc-scale optical cores and (ii) the magnetic (B) field geometry in the pc-scale radio jets of the two populations (we assume Ho=75 km s-1 Mpc-1, qo=0.5).

## 2 The pc-scale optical cores in radio galaxies

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has revealed unresolved optical cores in the centres of a majority of FRI and FRII radio galaxies (Chiaberge et al. 2002). These authors suggest that the core emission in the FRIs and some FRIIs is optical synchrotron radiation. Here we examine the evidence that the optical core luminosity, $`L_o`$ ($`K`$-corrected), is orientation dependent by searching for correlations with the radio core prominence, $`R_c=S_{core}/S_{ext}`$ (at an emitted frequency of 5 GHz), which is a statistical indicator of relativistic beaming (Blandford & Konigl 1979) and therefore of orientation. This comparison is plotted in Figs. 1 and 2 for the FRI and FRII populations, respectively. For the beamed objects ($`i.e.,`$BL Lacs and quasars) we have taken the optical core luminosity to be the total optical luminosity, assuming the core overwhelms the host galaxy emission.

$`L_o`$ is significantly correlated with $`R_c`$ (orientation) for the FRI radio galaxies alone ($`>`$ 0.005 level, Spearman rank correlation test), as well as for the whole FRI population ($`>`$ 0.0005 level). In the FRII population, the narrow-lined FRIIs do not show any correlation by themselves, although a significant ($`>`$ 0.0005 level) correlation exists for the broad-line objects, $`i.e.,`$Broad-Line Radio galaxies (BLRGs) and quasars (as well as for the FRII population as a whole). This is consistent with there being obscuration effects by a torus in the FRIIs but not in the FRIs. We note that optical cores have been detected in all the BLRGs observed (where the US predicts no obscuration by the torus), again consistent with this idea. We attempted to fit a model in which the observed optical emission ($`L_o`$) is due to contributions from a relativistic optical synchrotron jet ($`L_{jet}`$) and a thin accretion disk ($`L_{disk}`$) using the equations :

$`logL_o=log[\delta ^pL_{jet}^{int}+L_{disk}cos(\theta )]`$

$`logR_c=plog\delta +logR_c^{int};`$ int =intrinsic

Here $`\delta `$ and $`\theta `$ are the Doppler factor and inclination, and $`p`$ =(2+$`\alpha `$) or (3+$`\alpha `$), depending on whether the jet is continuous or blobby ($`\alpha `$ =jet spectral index).

In the best-fit models, the instrinsic (i.e., unbeamed) jets were only an order of magnitude more luminous in the FRII population, while the FRII accretion disks were more luminous than the FRI disks by three orders of magnitude. However, there are some caveats in this analysis: (i) the BL Lacs show a large scatter, which could be due to variability, (ii) there is a paucity of FRI objects at intermediate values of $`R_c`$, (iii) the $`L_o`$ values for the BL Lacs and quasars are total values, and include the host galaxy contribution, and (iv) the beamed and unbeamed objects were not matched in redshift and extended radio luminosity.

## 3 The pc-scale B field geometry in BL Lac objects

VLBI polarimetry has shown that a majority of radio-loud quasars have jet B fields aligned with the local jet direction, while most BL Lacs have transverse jet B fields (Cawthorne et al. 1993). Most of these BL Lacs were radio-selected BL Lacs (RBLs); subsequently, many more BL Lacs were discovered in X-ray surveys (X-ray selected BL Lacs, or XBLs). RBLs show greater radio core prominence, variability and optical polarization than XBLs (Laurent-Muehleisen et al. 1993), suggesting that RBLs are more beamed than XBLs. However, this cannot explain the differences in their spectral energy distributions (SEDs); most of the RBLs, like the core-dominated quasars (CDQs), have a synchrotron peak in the NIR/optical (low-energy peaked BL Lacs, LBLs) while the majority of the XBLs have this peak in the UV/soft X-ray (high-energy peaked BL Lacs, HBLs). Higher electron Lorentz factors and/or magnetic fields in HBLs have been suggested to explain the differing peaks (Sambruna et al. 1996). The CDQs, LBLs and HBLs form an SED sequence of increasing synchrotron peak frequency.

We explored if the B field geometry follows an analogous trend using observations of HEAO-1 XBLs using the NRAO 111The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. Very Large Baseline Array at 5 GHz (Kollgaard et al. 1996, Kharb et al., in prep). Contrary to the tendency observed for the LBLs, the HBLs showed predominantly longitudinal B fields relative to the local jet direction (eg., Fig. 2a). Fig. 2b shows a counter example: the HBL 1727+502, which has a transverse $`𝐁`$ field “spine” with longitudinal $`𝐁`$ field at the jet edges.

There appears to be no straightforward interpretation of the B field geometry trends in the beamed FRIs versus the beamed FRIIs within the simple US. Also, the $`𝐁`$ field geometries in CDQs, LBLs and HBLs do not reflect the SED synchrotron peak sequence.

## 4 Conclusions

1. All BLRGs that have been observed with the HST have detected pc-scale optical cores, consistent with the US.
2. The optical core luminosity correlates significantly with $`R_c`$ for the FRIs and BL Lacs, as well as the FRI radio galaxies alone. For the FRII population, only the BLRGs and quasars show a significant correlation while the narrow-line objects do not, consistent with obscuration effects by a torus in the latter.
3. Relativistic beaming alone can account for the variation in the optical cores of the FRI objects (beamed and unbeamed).
4. Modelling the optical emission as a combination of contributions from a jet and a disk suggests that the accretion disks of FRII objects are more luminous than those of FRI objects. This in turn suggests that the F–R division might be due to intrinsic differences on pc-scales.
5. The pc-scale jets of HBLs have predominantly longitudinal B fields w.r.t. the local jet direction, in contrast to the tendency for LBLs.
6. The $`𝐁`$ field geometries in CDQs, LBLs and HBLs do not reflect the SED synchrotron peak sequence of increasing frequency. Thus, no simple conclusions can be drawn about the pc-scale B field geometries and their connection with the F–R divide.