The Correlated Variations of Absorption Lines and Quasar Continuum

Using the quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and with variable C IV absorption line systems, we measure the Si IV and N V absorption line systems. We obtain 50 variable Si IV absorption line systems and 39 variable N V absorption line systems. We find that the variations in most of the C IV, Si IV, and N V absorption lines are correlated with the changes in quasar continuum. In addition, a significant portion of the variable absorption lines are the consistent variations of multiple systems with large velocity separations. Therefore, the variations of the C IV, Si IV, and N V absorption lines could be mainly driven by the changes in quasar radiations, which cause changes in ionization states or column densities of absorbing gas. We also find that the variable C IV, Si IV, and N V absorption line systems can be divided into low-ionization systems and high-ionization systems. The former positively responds to the changes in the quasar's brightness, and the later is the oppositive case.