Broad absorption line symbiotic stars: highly ionized species in the fast outflow from MWC 560

TL;DR

This paper reports the detection of high-ionization broad absorption lines in the symbiotic star MWC 560, revealing fast, ionized outflows that are analogous to quasar winds and provide insights into accretion and ejection processes.

Contribution

It presents the first detection of high-ionization BALs in MWC 560, demonstrating fast outflows with wide opening angles and drawing parallels to quasar winds, expanding understanding of symbiotic star outflows.

Findings

High-ionization BALs detected in MWC 560 at velocities over 1000 km/s.

Similar high-velocity outflows observed in other symbiotic stars.

BAL-producing outflows may have wider opening angles than previously thought.

Abstract

In symbiotic binaries, jets and disk winds may be integral to the physics of accretion onto white dwarfs from cool giants. The persistent outflow from symbiotic star MWC 560 (=V694 Mon) is known to manifest as broad absorption lines (BALs), most prominently at the Balmer transitions. We report the detection of high-ionization BALs from C IV, Si IV, N V, and He II in International Ultraviolet Explorer spectra obtained on 1990 April 29-30, when an optical outburst temporarily erased the obscuring 'iron curtain' of absorption troughs from Fe II and similar ions. The C IV and Si IV BALs reached maximum radial velocities at least 1000 km/s higher than contemporaneous Mg II and He II BALs; the same behaviors occur in the winds of quasars and cataclysmic variables. An iron curtain lifts to unveil high-ionization BALs during the P Cygni phase observed in some novae, suggesting by analogy a temporary switch in MWC 560 from persistent outflow to discrete mass ejection. At least three more symbiotic stars exhibit broad absorption with blue edges faster than 1500 km/s; high-ionization BALs have been reported in AS 304 (=V4018 Sgr), while transient Balmer BALs have been reported in Z And and CH Cyg. These BAL-producing fast outflows can have wider opening angles than has been previously supposed. BAL symbiotics are short-timescale laboratories for their giga-scale analogs, broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs), which display a similarly wide range of ionization states in their winds.