Just when we thought that the mystery of broad absorption line quasars issolved, new Chandra observations confront our understanding. Some BALQSOs appearunabsorbed in soft-X-rays and yet are X-ray weak. To understand these puzzlingobservations, we propose to observe a Chandra detected radio-loud BALQSO forprecision spectroscopy with EPIC PN. With the high quality XMM spectrum we willuncover spectral complexity, if any, which mimics the unabsorbed spectral shapein the crude Chandra data. It would be even more interesting if the spectrumturns out to be truly unabsorbed, as it will completely shake the presenthypothesis that BALQSOs are normal quasars viewed through special sightlines andwill imply that radio-loud BALQSOs are a separate class, perhaps related to quasar evolution.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2006-12-28T02:37:47Z/2007-01-07T08:33:00Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Prof Smita Mathur, 2008, 'Mysterious Broad Absorption Line Quasars openParBALQSOsclosePar', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-vb7skj7
