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Description
Broad FeII emission is a prominent feature of the optical and ultraviolet spectra of quasars. We report on a systematical investigation of optical FeII emission in a large sample of 4037 z<0.8 quasars selected from the SDSS-DR5 quasar catalog (Cat. VII/252). We have developed and tested a detailed line-fitting technique, taking into account the complex continuum and narrow and broad emission-line spectra. Our primary goal is to quantify the velocity broadening and velocity shift of the FeII spectrum in order to constrain the location of the FeII-emitting region and its relation to the broad-line region. We find that the majority of quasars show FeII emission that is redshifted, typically by ~400km/s, but up to 2000km/s, with respect to the systemic velocity of the narrow-line region or of the conventional broad-line region as traced by the H{beta} line. Moreover, the line width of FeII is significantly narrower than that of the broad component of H{beta}. We show that the magnitude of the FeII redshift correlates inversely with the Eddington ratio, and that there is a tendency for sources with redshifted FeII emission to show red asymmetry in the H{beta} line. These characteristics strongly suggest that FeII originates from a location different from, and most likely exterior to, the region that produces most of H{beta}. The FeII-emitting zone traces a portion of the broad-line region of intermediate velocities whose dynamics may be dominated by infall.
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