The Radio and Optical Luminosity Evolution of Quasars. II. The SDSS Sample

J. Singal, V. Petrosian, Ł. Stawarz, A. Lawrence

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We determine the radio and optical luminosity evolutions and the true distribution of the radio-loudness parameter R, defined as the ratio of the radio to optical luminosity, for a set of more than 5000 quasars combining Sloan Digital Sky Survey optical and Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty cm (FIRST) radio data. We apply the method of Efron and Petrosian to access the intrinsic distribution parameters, taking into account the truncations and correlations inherent in the data. We find that the population exhibits strong positive evolution with redshift in both wavebands, with somewhat greater radio evolution than optical. With the luminosity evolutions accounted for, we determine the density evolutions and local radio and optical luminosity functions. The intrinsic distribution of the radio-loudness parameter R is found to be quite different from the observed one and is smooth with no evidence of a bimodality in radio loudness for log R >= –1. The results we find are in general agreement with the previous analysis of Singal et al., which used POSS-I optical and FIRST radio data.
Original languageEnglish
Article number43
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume764
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2013

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • quasars: general
  • galaxies: jets
  • methods: data analysis
  • galaxies: active
  • methods: statistical

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Radio and Optical Luminosity Evolution of Quasars. II. The SDSS Sample'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this