NO EVIDENCE FOR A SYSTEMATIC Fe II EMISSION LINE REDSHIFT IN TYPE 1 ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

We test the recent claim by Hu et al. that Fe II emission in type 1 active galactic nuclei shows a systematic redshift relative to the local source rest frame and broad-line Hβ. We compile high signal-to-noise median composites using Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra from both the Hu et al. sample and our own sample of the 469 brightest DR5 spectra. Our composites are generated in bins of FWHM Hβ and Fe II strength as defined in our 4D Eigenvector 1 formalism. We find no evidence for a systematic Fe II redshift and consistency with previous assumptions that Fe II shift and width (FWHM) follow Hβ shift and FWHM in virtually all sources. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that Fe II emission (quasi-ubiquitous in type 1 sources) arises from a broad-line region with geometry and kinematics the same as that producing the Balmer lines.