  We describe the application of non-negative matrix factorisation to generate
compact reconstructions of quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
(SDSS), with particular reference to broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs).
BAL properties are measured for SiIV lambda1400, CIV lambda1550, AlIII
lambda1860 and MgII lambda2800, resulting in a catalogue of 3547 BALQSOs. Two
corrections, based on extensive testing of synthetic BALQSO spectra, are
applied in order to estimate the intrinsic fraction of CIV BALQSOs. First, the
probability of an observed BALQSO spectrum being identified as such by our
algorithm is calculated as a function of redshift, signal-to-noise ratio and
BAL properties. Second, the different completenesses of the SDSS target
selection algorithm for BALQSOs and non-BAL quasars are quantified. Accounting
for these selection effects the intrinsic CIV BALQSO fraction is 41+/-5 per
cent. Our analysis of the selection effects allows us to measure the dependence
of the intrinsic CIV BALQSO fraction on luminosity and redshift. We find a
factor of 3.5+/-0.4 decrease in the intrinsic fraction from the highest
redshifts, z~4.0, down to z~2.0. The redshift dependence implies that an
orientation effect alone is not sufficient to explain the presence of BAL
troughs in some but not all quasar spectra. Our results are consistent with the
intrinsic BALQSO fraction having no strong luminosity dependence, although with
3-sigma limits on the rate of change of the intrinsic fraction with luminosity
of -6.9 and 7.0 per cent dex^-1 we are unable to rule out such a dependence.

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics