Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2012
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012aas...21910905k&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #109.05
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Despite decades of study, it remains unclear whether or not the radio emission from QSOs is bimodal consisting of distinct radio loud and radio quiet populations. Earlier studies were limited by inhomogeneneous QSO samples, inadequate sensitivity to fully sample the radio quiet population, degeneracy between redshift and luminosity for flux density limited samples, and strong evolution over the wide range of observed redshifts. Our new 6 GHz EVLA observations allow us for the first time to obtain nearly complete (97%) radio detections in a volume-limited, homogeneously-selected sample of 179 QSOs (Mi<-23) from the SDSS in the narrow redshift range 0.2 < z < 0.3. With the dramatic improvement in radio continuum sensitivity with the EVLA, we were able to detect sources as faint as 20 microJy in just 35 minutes of observing time. This is equivalent to L6GHz = 1021.5 W/Hz at z=0.25, which is well below the radio luminosity (L6GHz = 1022.5 W/Hz) that separates star-forming galaxies from radio-loud AGNs driven by accretion onto a super-massive black hole. We will present the radio luminosity function (RLF) for these QSOs, constrained by our EVLA observations and by the total number of SDSS QSOs in the volume-limited sample, and will show that the RLF can be explained as a super-position of two populations, dominated by AGNs at the bright end and star-formation in the QSO host galaxies at the faint end.
Condon James J.
Ivezic Zeljko
Kellermann Kenneth I.
Kimball Amy E.
Perley Richard A.
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