A Catalog of High-velocity C iv Mini-broad Absorption Lines in the VLT-UVES and Keck-HIRES Archives

Abstract

Abstract We present a catalog of high-velocity C iv λ1548,1551 mini-broad absorption lines (mini-BALs) in the archives of the Very Large Telescope-UV Visual Echelle Spectrograph and Keck-High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer. We identify C iv mini-BALs based on smooth rounded BAL-like profiles with velocity blueshifts <−4000 km s−1 and widths in the range 70 ≲ FWHM(1548) ≲ 2000 km s−1. We find 105 mini-BALs in 44 quasars from a total sample of 638 quasars. The fraction of quasars with at least one mini-BAL meeting our criteria is roughly ∼9% after correcting for incomplete velocity coverage. All of the systems are highly ionized based on the strong presence of N v and O vi and/or the absence of Si ii and C ii when within the wavelength coverage. Two of the mini-BAL systems in our catalog, plus three others at smaller velocity shifts, have P v λ1118,1128 absorption indicating highly saturated C iv absorption and total hydrogen column densities ≳1022 cm−2. Most of the mini-BALs are confirmed to have optical depths ≳1 with partial covering of the quasar continuum source. The covering fractions are as small as 0.06 in C iv and 0.03 in Si iv, corresponding to outflow absorbing structures <0.002 pc across. When multiple lines are measured, the lines of less abundant ions tend to have narrower profiles and smaller covering fractions indicative of inhomogeneous absorbers where higher column densities occur in smaller clumps. This picture might extend to BAL outflows if the broader and generally deeper BALs form in either the largest clumps or collections of many mini-BAL-like clumps that blend together in observed quasar spectra.