Transient LoBALs at high velocities: A Case of Extreme Broad Absorption Line Variability in J115636.82+085628.9

TL;DR

This study documents extreme and coordinated variability in both low- and high-ionization broad absorption lines in a quasar over two decades, revealing transient LoBAL features likely caused by dynamic outflow structures.

Contribution

First detection of high-velocity LoBAL emergence and disappearance linked to high-ionization BAL variability, supporting a unified outflow model based on line-of-sight effects.

Findings

LoBALs appeared and vanished at ~20,000 km/s velocities.

Extreme EW variability in C IV and Si IV BALs observed.

Anti-correlation between BAL strength and continuum flux.

Abstract

We present a multi-epoch spectroscopic study of the broad absorption line (BAL) quasar J115636.82+085628.9 (z(em) = 2.1077), based on five spectra spanning nearly two decades in the observer's frame. This source exhibits remarkable variability in both low-ionization (LoBAL: Al III and Mg II) and high-ionization (HiBAL: C IV and Si IV) absorption features. For the first time, we detect the emergence and subsequent disappearance of LoBAL troughs at high velocities (~20,000 kms$^{-1}$), coinciding with the strengthening and weakening of the corresponding HiBAL absorption. The C IV BAL profile extends from ~6,700 kms$^{-1}$ to a conservative upper limit of 30,000 kms$^{-1}$ and is composed of narrow, variable absorption features embedded within a broad, smooth envelope. Both C IV and Si IV BAL troughs exhibit dramatic equivalent width (EW) changes, among the most extreme reported to date. Notably, these EW variations are strongly anti-correlated with continuum flux changes inferred from optical photometric light curves. We interpret this variability as the result of a new absorbing flow transiting into our line of sight, increasing the shielding of a more distant, pre-existing outflow and giving rise to transient LoBAL absorption. This scenario supports a unified picture in which LoBAL and HiBAL features arise from similar outflow structures, with observed differences governed primarily by line-of-sight column densities consistent with previous findings.