Systematic QSO emission-line velocity shifts and new unbiased redshifts

A novel method for determining mean line velocities which is an order of magnitude more accurate than past work is presented. Using a large sample of 518 lines from 160 QSOs, it is found that each UV emission line has a well-determined mean velocity, with a surprisingly small QSO-to-QSO dispersion of under 200 km/s. All correlations between emission-line velocities and QSO properties are found to be explained by just three basic correlations. Both N V and Mg II tend to be at less negative velocities in radio-quiet vs radio-loud QSOs, and C IV lines with small equivalent widths are at more negative velocities, probably because of the line asymmetry. The finding of Sargent et al. (1989) that the UV spectral index increases with UV luminosity is confirmed, but their claim that radio-loud and radio-quiet QSOs have different indices is not confirmed.