Abstract:
We obtained Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra for a set of 37 radio-quiet quasars [(radio-quiet
quasi-stellar objects (RQQSOs)] that had been previously examined for rapid small-scale
optical variations, or microvariability. Their Hβ and MgII emission lines were carefully fit to
determine linewidths (full width at half-maximum) as well as equivalent widths (EW) due to
the broad emission-line components. The linewidths were used to estimate black hole masses
and Eddington ratios, _. Both EWand FWHM are anticorrelated with _. The EW distributions
provide no evidence for the hypothesis that a weak jet component in theRQQSOs is responsible
for their microvariability.
