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Paper: Principal Component Analysis of QSO Properties
Volume: 311, AGN Physics with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Page: 3
Authors: Boroson, T.
Abstract: The underlying goal of studies of the phenomenology of AGN characteristics is to relate correlations among properties to physical processes and their parameters. Principal component analysis (PCA) is a mathematical technique to understand the relationships among correlated properties that can reduce the dimensionality and improve the S/N of the data. Over the past 10 years, variants of PCA have been applied to a number of samples of QSOs, with the result that a set of observed correlated properties has been termed "Eigenvector 1" properties. Attempts have been made to extend this approach to identify additional correlated properties and to interpret these sets of properties in terms of physical parameters such as black hole mass, Eddington ratio, and orientation. The SDSS holds the promise of significant advances in detecting such patterns in observables because of its large size, its uniform quality, and its well-defined selection criteria. Preliminary analysis of the EDR and DR1 samples appears to show outflow in the narrow [O III] λ5007 line in objects emitting close to their Eddington limit.
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