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

Journal Article · Fri Dec 28 04:00:00 EST 2012 · Submitted to Astrophysical Journal

OSTI ID:1046375

Singal, J; Petrosian, V; Stawarz, L; Lawrence, A

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 SDSS optical and 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 than the observed one, and is smooth with no evidence of a bi-modality in radio loudness. The results we find are in general agreement with the previous analysis of Singal et al., 2011 which used POSS-I optical and FIRST radio data.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC)
• Sponsoring Organization: US DOE Office of Science (DOE SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1046375
• Report Number(s): SLAC-PUB-15189; arXiv:1207.3396
• Journal Information: Submitted to Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Submitted to Astrophysical Journal
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
Astrophysics
ASTRO
DISTRIBUTION
LUMINOSITY
QUASARS