Properties of radio-loud BAL quasars

We recently presented radio observations of a large sample of radio-loud broad absorption line (BAL) quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm surveys, as well as a well matched sample of unabsorbed quasars, primarily to measure their radio spectral indices and estimate ensemble orientations. Here, we analyse the SDSS spectra of these samples and compare the rest-frame ultraviolet properties of radio-loud BAL and non-BAL quasars.

Ultraviolet properties include the continuum shape, emission-line measurements of CIV, AlIII, CIII], FeII and MgII, and BAL properties including the balnicity index, absorption index and minimum and maximum outflow velocities. We find that radio-loud BAL quasars have similar ultraviolet properties compared to radio-loud non-BAL sources, though they do appear to have redder continua and stronger FeII emission, which is consistent with what is found for radio-quiet BAL sources.