In my dissertation research I test the hypothesis that Low-ionization Broad Absorption Line QSOs (LoBALs) are a short evolutionary phase in galaxy evolution, a transition from ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) towards an unobscured type-1 QSO, marked by AGN-driven outflows of ionized gas. This is one of the two plausible explanations of BALs. An alternative idea is that BALs are an orientation effect, and all QSOs have accretion disk driven outflows, but those can only be observed at a small range of viewing angles (see the cartoon picture below).
To better understand the nature of LoBALs, I use some of the world's best telescopes to study a large sample of LoBALs:
(1) Spitzer Space Telescope - MIPS + IRS - SEDs, IR luminosities, SFRs, Mid-IR spectral properties
(2) Hubble Space Telescope - WFC3 - IR + UVIS - Morphologies, Map star forming regions, Map older stellar populations
(3) Keck Telescope - LRIS/ESI - Dominant stellar population ages
