A catalogue of 14453 radio-loud AGN with 1.4 GHz fluxes above 3.5 mJy in the redshift range 0.4<z<0.8, has been constructed from the cross-correlation of the NVSS and FIRST radio surveys with the MegaZ-LRG catalogue of luminous red galaxies derived from Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging data. New techniques were developed for extending the cross-correlation algorithm to FIRST detections that are below the nominal 1 mJy S/N limit of the catalogued sources. We estimate a reliability of ~98.3%, and completeness level (for LRGS) of about 95% for our new catalogue. We present a new determination of the luminosity function of radio AGN at z~0.55 and compare this to the luminosity function of nearby (z~0.1) radio sources from the SDSS main survey. The comoving number density of radio AGN with luminosities less than 10^{25} W Hz^{-1} increases by a factor ~1.5 between z=0.1 and z=0.55. At higher lumiosities, this factor increases sharply, reaching values of more than 10 at radio luminosities larger than 10^{26} W Hz^{-1}. We then study how the relation between radio AGN and their host galaxies evolves with redshift. Our main conclusion is that the fraction of radio-loud AGN increases towards higher redshift in all massive galaxies, but the evolution is particularly strong for the lower mass galaxies in our sample. These trends may be understood if there are two classes of radio galaxies (likely associated with the "radio" and "quasar mode" dichotomy) that have different fuelling/triggering mechanisms and hence evolve in different ways.
The jet formation is thought to be closely connected with the mass of central supermassive black hole in Active Galactic Nuclei. The radio luminosity commonly used in investigating this issue is merely an indirect measure of the energy transported through the jets from the central engine, and severely Doppler boosted in core-dominated radio quasars. In this work, we investigate the relationship between the jet power and black hole mass, by estimating the jet power using extrapolated extended 151 MHz flux density from the VLA 5 GHz extended radio emission, for a sample of 146 radio loud quasars…
The bimodality of the AGN radio loudness distribution, and the relation of radio loudness and black hole mass were recently disputed. A closer look at the existing data suggests possible resolutions of these disputes, as further described below.
A systematic difference in alignment between the central black hole spin and the angular momentum of the accreting gas may help explain several differences found in the optical and UV HST spectra of radio loud and radio quiet AGN.
The existence of BAL outflows in only radio-quiet QSOs was thought to be an important clue to mass ejection and the radio-loud - radio-quiet dichotomy. Recently a few radio-loud BAL QSOs have been discovered at high redshift. We present evidence that PKS 1004+13 is a radio-loud BAL QSO. It would be the first known at low-redshift (z = 0.24), and one of the most radio luminous. For PKS 1004+13, there appear to be broad absorption troughs of O VI, N V, Si IV, and C IV, indicating high-ionization outflows up to about 10,000 km/s. There are also two strong, broad (~500 km/s), high-ionization, asso…
In the present paper we report on the difference in angular sizes between radio-loud and radio-quiet CMEs. For this purpose we compiled these two samples of events using Wind/WAVES and SOHO/LASCO observations obtained during 1996-2005. It is shown that the radio-loud CMEs are almost two times wider than the radio-quiet CMEs (considering expanding parts of CMEs). Furthermore we show that the radio-quiet CMEs have a narrow expanding bright part with a large extended diffusive structure. These results were obtained by measuring the CME widths in three different ways.
We revisit the issue of whether radio loudness in AGN is associated with central black hole mass, as has been suggested in the literature. We present new estimates of black hole mass for 295 AGN (mostly radio-quiet), calculating their radio loudnesses from published radio and optical fluxes, and combine with our previously published values, for a sample of 452 AGN for which both black hole mass and radio loudness (or upper limits thereto) are known. Among the radio-quiet AGN, there are now many black holes with mass larger than $10^{9}$ $M_{\odot}$, extending to the same high black hole masses…
We report the discovery of a radio loud quasar with a redshift of 4.30. This object, which is the first radio selected quasar with a redshift greater than four, was discovered during an observational investigation into the evolution of the luminosity function of radio loud quasars. Here we describe results based on a sample of ~300, flat spectrum radio sources with S(5GHz) > 200mJy. In this study, rather than carry out an indiscriminate redshift campaign on all the radio sources, we have used the APM POSS catalogue to preselect a subset of stellar-like optical counterparts with red optical col…
We present the first systematic study of (non-radio-selected) radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies. Cross-correlation of the `Catalogue of Quasars and Active Nuclei' with several radio and optical catalogues led to the identification of 11 radio-loud NLS1 candidates including 4 previously known ones. Most of the radio-loud NLS1s are compact, steep spectrum sources accreting close to, or above, the Eddington limit. The radio-loud NLS1s of our sample are remarkable in that they occupy a previously rarely populated regime in NLS1 multi-wavelength parameter space. While their [OIII]/H_…
In an examination of the relationship between the black hole mass and stellar velocity dispersion in radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs), we studied two effects which may cause uncertainties in the black hole mass estimates of radio-loud AGNs: the relativistic beaming effect on the observed optical continuum radiation and the orientation effect on the broad emission line width. After correcting these two effects, we re-examined the relation between black hole mass and stellar velocity dispersion which derived from [OIII] line width for a sample of radio-loud and radio-quiet AGNs, and foun…
Radio emission is a good indicator of the jet power of radio-loud quasars, while the emission in broad-line can well represent the accretion disc radiation in quasars. We compile a sample of all sources of which the broad-line fluxes are available from 1 Jy, S4 and S5 radio source catalogues. A correlation between radio and broad-line emission for this sample of radio-loud quasars is presented, which is in favour of a close link between the accretion processes and the relativistic jets. The BL Lac objects seem to follow the statistical behaviour of the quasars, but with fainter broad-line emis…
The majority of this paper is devoted to discrete radio sources, and their consequences for cosmology. Three main issues are considered: (i) what makes a galaxy radio loud?; (ii) what do we know about how the population of radio-loud galaxies has changed with epoch?; and (iii) what can observations of high-redshift radio galaxies tell us about general questions of galaxy formation and evolution? The main conclusion is that radio galaxies are remarkably ordinary massive ellipticals. The high-redshift examples are generally old and red and do not make good candidates for primaeval galaxies.
We construct the first X-ray selected sample of broad line radio-loud AGN from the EMSS survey. In order to test unifying schemes for radio-loud objects, their spectral and statistical properties (both flat and steep spectrum objects) are examined and compared with those of other samples of blazars. The X-ray selection allows us to explore properties of radio-loud quasars 10-100 weaker in the radio band than classical samples. The most convincing interpretation of our results is that there are no radio-loud quasars whose synchrotron emission peak reaches the EUV-soft X-ray band at these (radio…
The distribution of radio to optical fluxes in AGN is bimodal. The physical origin for this bimodality is not understood. In this Letter I describe observational evidence, based on the Boroson & Green PG quasar sample, that the radio loudness bimodality is strongly related to the black hole mass (M_BH). Nearly all PG quasars with M_BH>10^9M_sun are radio loud, while quasars with M_BH<3x10^8M_sun are practically all radio quiet. This result is consistent with the dependence of quasar host galaxy morphology on radio loudness. There is no simple physical explanation for this result, but it may pr…
This erratum corrects a number of formulae containing mistakes in the paper 'Luminosity function, sizes and FR dichotomy of radio-loud AGN', 2007, MNRAS, v. 381, p.1548. The corrections do not alter any of the conclusions in the original paper.
The low-frequency power spectra of the X-ray and radio emission from four microquasars suggest that two distinct modes of energy output are at work: (i) the `coupled' mode in which the X-ray and radio luminosities are closely coupled and vary only weakly, and (ii) the `flaring' mode, which dramatically boosts the radio luminosity but makes no impact on the X-ray luminosity. The systems are in the flaring mode only a few percent of the time. However, flares completely dominate the power spectrum of radio emission, with the consequence that sources in which the flaring mode occurs, such as GRS 1…
Using the surface photometric analysis data for a well defined sample of 79 nearby radio galaxies (z < 0.12), it is shown that the level of radio emission associated with an elliptical galaxy during the radio-loud phase is related to the presence of large amounts of isophotal twist in its optical image. In particular, radio galaxies with P_408 > 3 x 10^{25} W/Hz appear to show a preference to be associated with elliptical hosts exhibiting an isophotal twist in excess of ~20 degrees.
After briefly summarizing the main tenets of unified schemes of Active Galactic Nuclei, I review some recent results in the field of unification of radio-loud sources, both for the low-luminosity (BL Lacs and Fanaroff-Riley type I radio galaxies) and high-luminosity (radio quasars and Fanaroff-Riley type II radio galaxies) populations.
The results of a comprehensive study of the cluster environments and black-hole masses of an optically matched sample of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars are presented. No evidence is found for a difference in large-scale environments, with both quasar classes found to be located in clusters of Abell class $\sim0$ . Conversely, virial black-hole mass estimates based on H$_β$ line-widths show a clear difference in the quasar black-hole mass distributions. Our results suggest that a black-hole mass of $\sim10^{9}\Msolar$ is required to produce a powerful radio-loud quasar, and that it is black…
We summarize the results of an X-ray spectroscopic survey of radio-loud AGNs observed with ASCA, using proprietary and archival data (public up to 1998 September). We briefly compare our results with those obtained for radio-quiet AGNs studied by other authors, and with the predictions of unified models.
We construct the first X-ray selected sample of radio-loud quasars from the EMSS survey. The X-ray selection allows us to explore the properties of radio-loud quasars 10-100 weaker than classical samples in the radio band. There are no radio-loud quasars whose synchrotron peak reaches the UV-soft X-ray band at these (radio) flux levels (as occurs for BL Lac objects selected in the X-ray band), but they appear to have comparatively stronger optical-UV emission. We suggest that this can be ascribed to a significant contribution from a quasi-thermal optical-UV component, emerging due to the compa…
We have performed quasi-simultaneous radio flux density measurements at 2.7 and 10 GHz for all PG quasars with radio flux densities between 4-200 mJy. We find that a large fraction of these sources are variable, flat-spectrum quasars. This brings the total fraction of flat-spectrum quasars with a ratio between radio and optical flux of R>10 - a value previously used to define a radio-loud quasar - to 40% in the PG quasar sample. We also find that the median R-parameter of these flat-spectrum quasars is lower than those of steep-spectrum radio-loud quasars. This contradicts the predictions of t…
In order to study the nature of the far-infrared emission observed in radio-loud active galaxies, we have obtained 1.2 mm observations with the IRAM 30 m telescope for a sample of eight radio-loud active galaxies. In all objects we find that the 1.2 mm emission is dominated by non-thermal emission. An extrapolation of the non-thermal radio spectrum indicates that the contribution of synchrotron emission to the far-infrared is less than 10% in quasars, and negligible in the radio galaxies. The quasars in the sample show signs of relativistic beaming at millimeter wavelengths, and the quasar 3C3…
[ABRIDGED] This is the third in a series of three papers exploring the connection between the multiwavelength properties of AGN in nearby early-type galaxies and the characteristics of their hosts. We selected 116 AGN candidates requiring a radio flux of 1 mJy. We classified the objects with HST images into ``core'' and ``power-law'' galaxies, on the basis of the nuclear slope of their brightness profiles. We used HST and Chandra data to isolate their nuclear emission to study the multiwavelength behaviour of their nuclei. The properties of the nuclei hosted by the 29 core galaxies were presen…
We report the discovery of five broad-absorption-line (BAL) QSOs in a complete sample of 111 ultraviolet excess (UVX) QSO candidates also detected in the NRAO VLA Sky Survey. All five BAL QSOs, which include two high-ionization BAL QSOs and three low-ionization BAL QSOs, are formally radio-loud. Of QSOs with z > 0.4, 3+/-2% show low-ionization BALs, and of QSOs with z > 1.5, all radio-loud, 9+/-5% show BALs; these frequencies are consistent with those of optical surveys. While the first reported radio-loud BAL QSO, FIRST J155633.8+351758, is likely to be heavily dust reddened and thus less rad…
Radio-loud AGN are characterized by relativistic jets originating near the central supermassive black hole and forming large-scale radio sources at parsec to kiloparsec to Megaparsec distances. The jets are energetically significant, in many cases representing the bulk of the energy extracted from the accretion process. Host galaxies are apparently normal luminous ellipticals, supporting the "Grand Unification" scenario wherein AGN are a transient phase in the evolution of every galaxy. Black hole mass appears to be largely uncorrelated with bolometric luminosity, Eddington ratio, radio lumino…
We present a new approach to tackle the issue of radio loudness in quasars. We constrain a (simple) prescription for the intrinsic distribution of radio-to-optical ratios by comparing properties of Monte Carlo simulated samples with those of observed optically selected quasars. We find strong evidence for a dependence of the radio luminosity on the optical one, even though with a large scatter. The dependence of the fraction of radio loud quasars on apparent and absolute optical magnitudes results in a selection effect related to the radio and optical limits of current surveys. The intrinsic d…
We show new radio data and a re-analysis of old data for the Narrow Line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) galaxy RGB J0044+193. This galaxy has previously been suggested to be both radio loud, and highly variable in the radio. As most NLSy 1 galaxies are radio quiet, this was interpreted as possible evidence that this AGN's jet was beamed toward the observer. This object was probably never either radio loud and nor variable -- the one exception to this rule is a marginal detection of the object in the 1987 Green Bank survey, which we argue may have been spurious.
The majority of quasars are weak in their radio emission, with flux densities comparable to those in the optical, and energies far lower. A small fraction, about 10%, are hundreds to thousands of times stronger in the radio. Conventional wisdom holds that there are two classes of quasars, the radio quiets and radio louds, with a deficit of sources having intermediate power. Are there really two separate populations, and if so, is the physics of the radio emission fundamentally different between them? This paper addresses the second question, through a study of radio variability across the full…
Because of the contamination of jets, using the size -- continuum luminosity relation can overestimate the broad line region (BLR) size and black hole mass for radio-loud AGNs. We propose a new relation between the BLR size and $H_β$ emission line luminosity and present evidences for using it to get more accurate black hole masses of radio-loud AGNs. For extremely radio-loud AGNs such as blazars with weak/absent emission lines, we suggest to use the fundamental plane relation of their elliptical host galaxies to estimate the central velocity dispersions and black hole masses, if their host gal…
I discuss two programs to study radio-loud quasars at high (z>4) redshift. Quasars are the most luminous, non-transient objects known and are observed to the earliest cosmic epochs. At lower redshifts, radio-loud quasars are associated with host galaxies having deVaucoleurs profiles. By association, identifying and studying a sample of high-redshift, radio-loud quasars provides important clues to the early Universe and potentially probes early-type galaxy formation. The first aspect of this proceeding discusses an extensive search for high-redshift, radio-loud quasars culled from matching the …
We explore the relationship between the extended radio and line emission for a radio-loud quasar sample including both core-dominated and lobe-dominated quasars. A strong correlation is present between the extended radio and broad-line emission. The core emission is also correlated with the broad-line emission for core-dominated quasars in the sample. The statistic behaviour on the core emission of lobe-dominated quasars is rather different from that of core-dominated quasars. The extended radio luminosity is a good tracer for jet power, while the core luminosity can only be a jet power tracer…
(abridged) We present a comprehensive study of a sample of 23 genuine radio-loud NLS1 galaxies which have the radio-loudness parameters greater than 100. The radio sources of the sample are ubiquitously compact. A significant fraction of these objects show interesting radio to X-ray properties that are unusual to most of the previously known radio-loud NLS1 AGN, but are reminiscent of blazars. These include flat radio spectra, large amplitude flux and spectral variability, compact VLBI cores, very high brightness temperatures derived from variability, enhanced optical emission in excess of the…
The central black-hole masses of a sample of radio-loud quasars are estimated by using the data of $H_β$ line-width and the optical continuum luminosity. The vast majority of the quasars in this sample have black-hole masses larger than $10^{8} M_{\odot}$, while a few quasars may contain relatively smaller black-holes. We found a significant anti-correlation between the radio-loudness and the central black-hole mass. It might imply that the jet formation is governed by the black-hole mass.
We generated a sample of 409 AGNs for which both the radio luminosity at 5 GHz and the line luminosity in [OIII] 5007 have been measured. The radio luminosity spans a range of ten orders of magnitude, and the [OIII] line luminosity spans a range of eight orders of magnitude --- both considerably larger than the ranges in previous studies. We show that these two quantities are correlated in a similar way for both radio-loud and radio-quiet AGNs. We demonstrate that the observed correlation can be explained in terms of a model in which jets are accelerated and collimated by a vertical magnetic f…
We have discovered an obscured active galaxy at redshift z = 1.246 identified with the ROSAT X-ray source RX J1011.2+5545. We report on multiwavelength observations of this source and discuss its X-ray, optical and radio properties. This is the first X-ray selected, obscured active galaxy at high redshift to be shown to be radio-loud, with a radio counterpart exhibiting a classical double-lobe morphology.
We have made radio observations of 87 optically selected quasars at 5 GHz with the VLA in order to measure the radio power for these objects and hence determine how the fraction of radio-loud quasars varies with redshift and optical luminosity. The sample has been selected from the recently completed Edinburgh Quasar Survey and covers a redshift range of 0.3 < z < 1.5 and an optical absolute magnitude range of -26.5 < M_{B} < -23.5 (h, q_{0} = 1/2). We have also matched up other existing surveys with the FIRST and NVSS radio catalogues and combined these data so that the optical luminosity-red…
We report identification of the radio loud narrow-line quasar SDSS J172206.03+565451.6 which we found in the course of a search for radio loud narrow-line Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). SDSSJ172206.03+565451.6 is only the ~4th securely identified radio loud narrow-line quasar and the second-most radio loudest with a radio index R_1.4 ~ 100-700. Its black hole mass, M_BH = (2-3) 10^7 M_sun, is unusually small given its radio loudness, and the combination of mass and radio index puts SDSSJ172206.03+565451.6 in a scarcely populated region of M_BH-R diagrams. SDSSJ172206.03+565451.6 is a classical …
We report a serendipitous discovery of broad absorption lines that were newly formed in the spectrum of the high-redshift, luminous radio-loud quasar TEX 1726 + 344, in a time interval of only 12 years. This is the first quasar showing a transition from narrow absorption lines to broad absorption lines. It also becomes one of the few radio-loud broad absorption line quasars. The gas cloud responsible for these broad absorption lines is derived to have parameters coinciding with those of the remnant of a tidally disrupted star.
I bring together evidence for the rapidity with which quasars' radio synchrotron lobe emission fades and for the intermittency with which jet plasma is ejected from individual quasars and radio galaxies and affirm the picture presented by Nipoti et al (2005) that the radio-loudness of quasars is a function of the epoch at which they are observed. I briefly illustrate this account with examples of successive episodes of jet activity where the axis along which jet plasma is launched appears to have precessed. A new model for the weak core radio emission from radio-quiet quasars, that is not any …
The properties of the host galaxies of a well-defined sample of 2215 radio-loud AGN with redshifts 0.03 < z < 0.3, defined from the SDSS, are investigated. These are predominantly low radio luminosity sources, with 1.4GHz luminosities of 10^23 to 10^25 W/Hz. The fraction of galaxies that host radio-loud AGN with L(1.4GHz) > 10^23 W/Hz is a strong function of stellar mass, rising from nearly zero below a stellar mass of 10^10 Msun to more than 30% at 5x10^11 Msun. The integral radio luminosity function is derived in six ranges of stellar and black hole mass. Its shape is very similar in all of …
The Universe became fully reionized, and observable optically, at a time corresponding to redshift z~6.5, so it is only by studying the HI and molecular absorption lines against higher-redshift, radio-loud sources that one can hope to make detailed studies of the earliest stages of galaxy formation. At present no targets for such studies are known. In these proceedings we describe a survey which is underway to find radio-loud quasars at z > 6.5.
The Universe became fully reionized, and observable optically, at a time corresponding to redshift z ~ 6.5, so it is only by studying the HI and molecular absorption lines against higher-redshift, radio-loud sources that one can hope to make detailed studies of the earliest stages of galaxy formation. At present no targets for such studies are known. In these proceedings we describe a survey which is underway to find radio-loud quasars at z > 6.5, and present broad-band SEDs of our most promising candidates.
We performed phase-reference very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations on five radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) at 8.4 GHz with the Japanese VLBI Network (JVN). Each of the five targets (RXS J08066+7248, RXS J16290+4007, RXS J16333+4718, RXS J16446+2619, and B3 1702+457) in milli-Jansky levels were detected and unresolved in milli-arcsecond resolutions, i.e., with brightness temperatures higher than 10^7 K. The nonthermal processes of active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity, rather than starbursts, are predominantly responsible for the radio emissions from these NLS1…
We test the disk/corona model of Janiuk et al. (2000) against the composite mean optical/UV/soft X-ray spectrum of radio loud and radio quiet quasars from Laor et al. (1997) which applies to faint quasars. The model well represents the optical/UV continuum if the hardening of the locally emitted spectrum is included, with the color to effective temperature ratio $f \sim 2$ in the inner 20-30 Schwarzschild radii. Comptonization seen in the soft X-ray band is well explained by the adopted corona model in the case of radio loud objects. However, this Comptonization is much stronger in radio quiet…
Here we speculate on what observations are telling us about the difference between radio-loud and radio-quiet QSOs. The observations are (i) the relation between ultraviolet-optical luminosity and `jet power', (ii) the dependences of emission and absorption line spectra, and the spectral energy distribution, on radio core-dominance, assumed to be an indicator of orientation, (iii) the spectral differences between radio-loud and radio-quiet QSOs, and (iv) the inverse relation between the strength of broad, blended Fe\,II multiplets and [O\,III]\,$λ$5007, and the apparently-related association b…
In order to test the unification scheme for double-lobed radio sources, the far-infrared properties of matched samples of radio-galaxies and radio-loud quasars were studied using ISOPHOT. The quasar data were complemented with nearly simultaneous submillimeter and centimeter radio data. The results show that quasars are generally brighter than radio-galaxies in their far-infrared output and that beamed non-thermal radiation must be excluded as source for this infrared excess. However, non-thermal flares or optically thick tori can still reconcile these results with the unification scheme.
Recent studies of black holes in the nuclei of both active and normal galaxies have yielded relationships that permit a physical interpretation of the principal components of the spectra of QSOs. It is shown that principal component (or eigenvector) 1 (PC1) is driven predominantly by L/L{Edd}, and principal component 2 (PC2) is driven by luminosity or accretion rate. This results in a PC2 vs. PC1 diagram in which lines of constant black hole mass are diagonal. Using a sample consisting of the low-redshift PG objects supplemented by 46 radio-loud QSOs, it is shown that such a diagram effectivel…
Nuclear jets containing relativistic ``hot'' particles close to the central engine cool dramatically by producing high energy radiation. The radiative dissipation is similar to the famous Compton drag acting upon ``cold'' thermal particles in a relativistic bulk flow. Highly relativistic protons induce anisotropic showers raining electromagnetic power down onto the putative accretion disk. Thus, the radiative signature of hot hadronic jets is x-ray irradiation of cold thermal matter. The synchrotron radio emission of the accelerated electrons is self-absorbed due to the strong magnetic fields …
Starting from a sample of SDSS quasars appearing also in the 2MASS survey, we study the continuum properties of about 1000 objects observed in 8 bands, from NIR to UV. We construct the mean spectral energy distribution (SED) and compare and contrast the continua of radio loud (RLQ) and radio quiet (RQQ) objects. The SEDs of the two populations are significantly different in the sense that RLQs are redder, with power law spectral indices <alpha(RLQ)>=-0.55+/-0.04 and <alpha(RQQ)>=-0.31+/-0.01 in the spectral range between 10^14.5 and 10^15.35 Hz. This difference is discussed in terms of differe…
We report on the investigation of a complete sample of young radio-loud AGN at z<0.25, selected using the new comprehensive radio surveys and the optical APM/POSS-I catalog. This new sample will provide a unique opportunity for statistical studies of the early evolution of radio-loud AGN, free of cosmological evolution effects. In particular, their local luminosity function, linear-size and dynamical age distributions, may strongly constrain possible evolution scenarios. In addition, this new sample is well suited for statistical studies of other important properties, like their X-ray and infr…
We report optical monitoring observations of 20 high-luminosity AGN, 12 of which are radio-quiet quasars (RQQs). Intra-night optical variability (INOV) was detected for 13 of the 20 objects, including 5 RQQs. The variations are distinctly stronger and more frequent for blazars than for the other AGN classes. By combining these data with results obtained earlier in our program, we have formed an enlarged sample consisting of 9 BL Lacs, 19 RQQs and 11 lobe-dominated radio-loud quasars. The moderate level of rapid optical variability found for both RQQs and radio lobe-dominated quasars argues aga…
The pulsar magnetosphere contains a strongly magnetized, relativistic plasma. We need to understand the physics of that plasma if we want to connect the data to the models. Our group in Socorro is mixing theory and observations in order to study the radio-loud pulsar plasma. In this paper we report on several aspects of our current work.
I review observational properties of low power radio loud AGN. High resolution VLBI observations allow the estimate of the jet velocity and orientation with respect to the line of sight and the determination of the Doppler factor. These data reveal rich structures, including two-sided jets and secondary components. New results on 1144+35, a giant radio source with superluminal motion are shown in detail.
We investigate how the total radio luminosity of AGN-powered radio sources depends on their accretion luminosity and the central black hole mass. We find that AGNs form two distinct and well separated sequences on the radio-loudness - Eddington-ratio plane. We argue that these sequences mark the real upper bounds of radio-loudness of two distinct populations of AGNs: those hosted respectively by elliptical and disk galaxies. Both sequences show the same dependence of the radio-loudness on the Eddington ratio (an increase with decreasing Eddington ratio), which suggests that another parameter i…
The International AGN Watch has monitored a number of radio-quiet and radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei - the most luminous objects in the universe. We present a review of the main observational results from the continuum monitoring campaigns, concentrating on those which aim to quantify the simultaneous ultraviolet to X-ray variability characteristics. These data provide strong constraints on the proposed continuum emission mechanisms. The AGN Watch campaigns have made extensive use of a wide variety of both ground- and space-based multi-waveband observational facilities, and we stress that l…
I review our knowledge of the properties of the host galaxies of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars, both in comparison to each other and in the context of the general galaxy population. It is now clear that the hosts of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars with M_V < -23.5 are virtually all massive elliptical galaxies. The masses of these spheroids are as expected given the relationship between black-hole and spheroid mass found for nearby quiescent galaxies, as is the growing prevalence of disc components in the hosts of progressively fainter AGN. There is also now compelling evidence that qua…
Low-luminosity AGNs are perceived to be radio loud and devoid of a ``big blue bump'', indicating a transition from a radiatively efficient, geometrically thin, accretion disc in high-luminosity AGNs, to a geometrically thick, radiatively inefficient accretion flow at low luminosities and accretion rates. I revisit the issue of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of low-luminosity AGNs using recently published, high-angular-resolution data at radio, UV, and X-ray wavelengths, for a sample of 13 nearby galaxies with LINER nuclei. I show that, contrary to common wisdom, low-luminosity AGNs h…
We present the results of spectropolarimetry of a sample of 7 powerful radio galaxies and 2 quasars with $0.07<z<0.35$ obtained to detect possible anisotropies in the [OIII] line emission, which could explain the higher [OIII] luminosity of quasars than that of radio galaxies within the framework of the Unified Model of radio-loud AGN. We detect polarized [OIII] in 4 radio galaxies, consistent with the possibility that a considerable fraction ($\sim 20%$) of the observed [OIII] emission is scattered in a similar way to the hidden nuclear continuum. However, small but detectable rotation betwee…
We review the latest attempts to determine the accretion geometry in radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN). These objects, which comprise ~10-20% of the AGN population, produce powerful collimated radio jets that can extend thousands of parsecs from the center of the host galaxy. Recent multiwavelength surveys have shown that radio-loudness is more common in low-luminosity AGN than in higher luminosity Seyfert galaxies or quasars. These low-luminosity AGN have small enough accretion rates that they are most likely accreting via a geometrically thick and radiatively inefficient accretion flow…
Several independent lines of evidence now point to a correlation between black hole mass, M_bh, and radio-luminosity. In this paper we discuss the correlation for quasars from the FIRST Bright Quasar Survey (FBQS), using black hole mass estimates from Hbeta linewidths. The FBQS objects fill in the gap between the radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars in the radio-luminosity - optical-luminosity plane, and we find that they fill the corresponding gap in the M_bh - radio luminosity correlation. There is thus a continuous variation of radio luminosity with M_bh, and no evidence for a ``switch'' at s…
