In order to investigate the dependence of quasar variability on fundamental physical parameters like black hole mass, we have matched quasars from the Quasar Equatorial Survey Team, Phase 1 (QUEST1) variability survey with broad-lined objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The matched sample contains 104 quasars, and the Sloan spectra are used to estimate black hole masses and bolometric luminosities. Variability amplitudes are measured from the QUEST1 light curves. We find that black hole mass correlates with several measures of the variability amplitude at the 99 per cent significance level or better. The correlation does not appear to be caused by obvious selection effects inherent to flux-limited quasar samples, host galaxy contamination or other well-known correlations between quasar variability and luminosity/redshift. We evaluate variability as a function of rest-frame time lag using structure functions and find further support for the variability-black hole mass correlation.
We provide a quantitative description and statistical interpretation of the optical continuum variability of quasars. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has obtained repeated imaging in five UV-to-IR photometric bands for 33,881 spectroscopically confirmed quasars. About 10,000 quasars have an average of 60 observations in each band obtained over a decade along Stripe 82 (S82), whereas the remaining ~25,000 have 2-3 observations due to scan overlaps. The observed time lags span the range from a day to almost 10 years, and constrain quasar variability at rest-frame time lags of up to 4 years, and at rest-frame wavelengths from 1000{AA} to 6000{AA}. We publicly release a user-friendly catalog of quasars from the SDSS Data Release 7 that have been observed at least twice in SDSS or once in both SDSS and the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, and we use it to analyze the ensemble properties of quasar variability. Based on a damped random walk (DRW) model defined by a characteristic timescale and an asymptotic variability amplitude that scale with the luminosity, black hole mass, and rest wavelength for individual quasars calibrated in S82, we can fully explain the ensemble variability statistics of the non-S82 quasars such as the exponential distribution of large magnitude changes. All available data are consistent with the DRW model as a viable description of the optical continuum variability of quasars on timescales of ~5-2000 days in the rest frame. We use these models to predict the incidence of quasar contamination in transient surveys such as those from the Palomar Transient Factory and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.
Using the largest homogeneous quasar sample with high-quality optical spectra and robust radio morphology classifications assembled to date, we investigate relationships between radio and optical properties with unprecedented statistical power. The sample consists of 4714 radio quasars from FIRST with S_20_>=2mJy and with spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Radio morphology classes include core-only (core), core-lobe (lobe), core-jet (jet), lobe-core-lobe (triple), and double-lobe.
Recent studies have shown that a remarkable share of quasars classified in the literature as gigahertz-peaked spectrum (GPS) sources and high frequency peakers (HFPs) are actually flaring flat-spectrum sources or blazars. Thus, at least among the quasar-type samples, genuine GPS sources and HFPs seem to be rare. We have studied variability and the shape of the radio continuum spectra of a sample of 96 galaxy-type GPS sources and HFPs in order to find out whether there is a similar contamination in the galaxy-type samples.
Radio emission from radio-quiet quasars may be due to star formation in the quasar host galaxy, to a jet launched by the supermassive black hole, or to relativistic particles accelerated in a wide-angle radiatively driven outflow. In this paper, we examine whether radio emission from radio-quiet quasars is a byproduct of star formation in their hosts. To this end, we use infrared spectroscopy and photometry from Spitzer and Herschel to estimate or place upper limits on star formation rates in hosts of ~300 obscured and unobscured quasars at z<1. We find that low-ionization forbidden emission lines such as [NeII] and [NeIII] are likely dominated by quasar ionization and do not provide reliable star formation diagnostics in quasar hosts, while polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission features may be suppressed due to the destruction of PAH molecules by the quasar radiation field. While the bolometric luminosities of our sources are dominated by the quasars, the 160{mu}m fluxes are likely dominated by star formation, but they too should be used with caution. We estimate median star formation rates to be 6-29M_{sun}_/yr, with obscured quasars at the high end of this range. This star formation rate is insufficient to explain the observed radio emission from quasars by an order of magnitude, with log(L_radio,obs_/L_radio,SF_)=0.6-1.3 depending on quasar type and star formation estimator. Although radio-quiet quasars in our sample lie close to the 8-1000{mu}m infrared/radio correlation characteristic of the star-forming galaxies, both their infrared emission and their radio emission are dominated by the quasar activity, not by the host galaxy.
We used the 1.4GHz NVSS to study radio sources in two color-selected QSO samples: a volume-limited sample of 1313 QSOs defined by M_i_<-23 in the redshift range 0.2<z<0.45 and a magnitude-limited sample of 2471 QSOs with m_r_<=18.5 and 1.8<z<2.5. About 10% were detected above the 2.4mJy NVSS catalog limit and are powered primarily by active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The space density of the low-redshift QSOs evolves as {rho}{prop.to}(1+z)^6^. In both redshift ranges the flux-density distributions and luminosity functions of QSOs stronger than 2.4mJy are power laws, with no features to suggest more than one kind of radio source. Extrapolating the power laws to lower luminosities predicts the remaining QSOs should be extremely radio quiet, but they are not. Most were detected statistically on the NVSS images with median peak flux densities S_p_(mJy/beam){approx}0.3 and 0.05 in the low- and high-redshift samples, corresponding to spectral luminosities log [L_1.4GHz_(W/Hz)]{approx}22.7 and 24.1, respectively. We suggest that the faint radio sources are powered by star formation at rates dM/dt~20M_{sun}_/yr in the moderate luminosity (median <M_i_>{approx}-23.4) low-redshift QSOs and dM/dt~500M_{sun}_/yr in the very luminous (<M_i_>{approx}-27.5) high-redshift QSOs. Such luminous starbursts [<log(L_IR_/L_{sun}_)>~11.2 and 12.6, respectively] are consistent with "quasar mode" accretion in which cold gas flows fuel both AGN and starburst.
Identifying the most likely sources for high-energy neutrino emission has been one of the main topics in high-energy astrophysics ever since the first observation of high-energy neutrinos by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Active galactic nuclei with relativistic jets, also known as blazars, have been considered to be one of the main candidates because of their ability to accelerate particles to high energies. We study the connection between radio emission and IceCube neutrino events using data from the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) and Metsahovi Radio Observatory blazar monitoring programs. We identify sources in our radio monitoring sample that are positionally consistent with IceCube high-energy neutrino events. We estimate their mean flux density and variability amplitudes around the neutrino arrival time, and compare these with values from random samples to establish the significance of our results. We find radio source associations within our samples with 15 high-energy neutrino events detected by IceCube. Nearly half of the associated sources are not detected in the {gamma}-ray energies, but their radio variability properties and Doppler boosting factors are similar to the {gamma}-ray detected objects in our sample, meaning that they could still be potential neutrino emitters. We find that the number of strongly flaring objects in our statistically complete OVRO samples is unlikely to be a random coincidence (at 2{sigma} level). Based on our results, we conclude that although it is clear that not all neutrino events are associated with strong radio flaring blazars, observations of large-amplitude radio flares in a blazar at the same time as a neutrino event are unlikely to be a random coincidence.
Most active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are radio quiet, and the origin of their radio emission is not well understood. One hypothesis is that this radio emission is a byproduct of quasar-driven winds. In this paper, we present the radio properties of 108 extremely red quasars (ERQs) at z=2-4. ERQs are among the most luminous quasars (L_bol_~10^47-48^erg/s^) in the Universe, with signatures of extreme (>>1000km/s) outflows in their [OIII]{lambda}5007{AA} emission, making them the best subjects to seek the connection between radio and outflow activities. All ERQs but one are unresolved in the radio on ~10kpc scales, and the median radio luminosity of ERQs is {nu}L_{nu}_[6GHz]= 10^41.0^erg/s, in the radio-quiet regime, but 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than that of other quasar samples. The radio spectra are steep, with a mean spectral index <{alpha}>=-1.0. In addition, ERQs neatly follow the extrapolation of the low-redshift correlation between radio luminosity and the velocity dispersion of [OIII]-emitting ionized gas. Uncollimated winds, with a power of one per cent of the bolometric luminosity, can account for all these observations. Such winds would interact with and shock the gas around the quasar and in the host galaxy, resulting in acceleration of relativistic particles and the consequent synchrotron emission observed in the radio. Our observations support the picture in which ERQs are signposts of extremely powerful episodes of quasar feedback, and quasar-driven winds as a contributor of the radio emission in the intermediate regime of radio luminosity {nu}L_{nu}_=10^39^-10^42^erg/s.
The second realization of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF2), which is the current fundamental celestial reference frame adopted by the International Astronomical Union, is based on Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) data at radio frequencies in X band and S band. The European Space Agency's Gaia mission, launched on 2013 December 19, started routine scientific operations in 2014 July. By scanning the whole sky, it is expected to observe ~500000 Quasi Stellar Objects in the optical domain an average of 70 times each during the five years of the mission. This means that, in the future, two extragalactic celestial reference frames, at two different frequency domains, will coexist. It will thus be important to align them very accurately. In 2012, the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB) selected 195 sources from ICRF2 that will be observed by Gaia and should be suitable for aligning the radio and optical frames: they are called ICRF2-Gaia transfer sources. The LAB submitted a proposal to the International VLBI Service (IVS) to regularly observe these ICRF2-Gaia transfer sources at the same rate as Gaia observes them in the optical realm, e.g., roughly once a month. We describe our successful effort to implement such a program and report on the results. Most observations of the ICRF2-Gaia transfer sources now occur automatically as part of the IVS source monitoring program, while a subset of 37 sources requires special attention. Beginning in 2013, we scheduled 25 VLBI sessions devoted in whole or in part to measuring these 37 sources. Of the 195 sources, all but one have been successfully observed in the 12 months prior to 2015 September 01. Of the sources, 87 met their observing target of 12 successful sessions per year. The position uncertainties of all of the ICRF2-Gaia transfer sources have improved since the start of this observing program. For a subset of 24 sources whose positions were very poorly known, the uncertainty has decreased, on average, by a factor of four. This observing program is successful because the two main goals were reached for most of the 195 ICRF2-Gaia transfer sources: observing at the requested target of 12 successful sessions per year and improving the position uncertainties to better than 200{mu}as for both R.A. and decl. However, scheduling some of the transfer sources remains a challenge because of network geometry and the weakness of the sources, and this will be one focus of future sessions used in this ongoing program.
We compare covering factors of circumnuclear dusty obscurers in radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars. The radio-loud quasars are represented by a sample of FR II quasars obtained by cross-matching a catalog of the FR II radio sources selected by van Velzen et al. with the SDSS DR7 catalog of quasars. Covering factors of FR II quasars are compared with covering factors of the radio-quiet quasars matched with them in redshift, black hole mass, and Eddington-ratio. We found that covering factors, proxied by the infrared-to-bolometric luminosity ratio, are on average slightly smaller in FR II quasars than in radio-quiet quasars, however, this difference is statistically significant only for the highest Eddington ratios. For both samples, no statistically significant dependence of a median covering factor on Eddington ratio, black hole mass, nor redshift can be claimed.
