The radio loudness of SDSS quasars from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey: ubiquitous jet activity and constraints on star formation

Abstract

We examine the distribution of radio emission from ~42,000 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, as measured in the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS). We present a model of the radio luminosity distribution of the quasars that assumes that every quasar displays a superposition of two sources of radio emission: active galactic nuclei (jets) and star-formation. Our two-component model provides an excellent match to the observed radio flux density distributions across a wide range of redshifts and quasar optical luminosities; this suggests that the jet-launching mechanism operates in all quasars but with different powering efficiency. The wide distribution of jet powers allows for a smooth transition between the 'radio-quiet' and 'radio-loud' quasar regimes, without need for any explicit bimodality. The best-fit model parameters indicate that the star-formation rate of quasar host galaxies correlates strongly with quasar luminosity and also increases with redshift at least out to z~2. For a model where star-formation rate scales as $SFR\propto L_{bol}^{\alpha }(1+z{)}^{\beta }$, we find $\alpha =0.47\pm 0.01$ and $\beta =1.61\pm 0.05$, in agreement with far-infrared studies. Quasars contribute ~0.15 per cent of the cosmic star-formation rate density at z=0.5, rising to 0.4 per cent by z=2. The typical radio jet power is seen to increase with both increasing optical luminosity and black hole mass independently, but does not vary with redshift, suggesting intrinsic properties govern the production of the radio jets. We discuss the implications of these results for the triggering of quasar activity and the launching of jets.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in MNRAS. 21 pages

References in corpus (128)

• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE): Mission Description and Initial On-orbit Performance
• Measuring Reddening with SDSS Stellar Spectra and Recalibrating SFD
• The Global Schmidt Law in Star Forming Galaxies
• A Fundamental Relation Between Supermassive Black Holes and Their Host Galaxies
• The Host Galaxies of AGN
• Cosmic Star Formation History
• A Relationship Between Nuclear Black Hole Mass and Galaxy Velocity Dispersion
• Observational Evidence of AGN Feedback
• LOFAR: The LOw-Frequency ARray
• The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III
• Star Formation in AEGIS Field Galaxies since z=1.1 : The Dominance of Gradually Declining Star Formation, and the Main Sequence of Star-Forming Galaxies
• A Unified, Merger-Driven Model for the Origin of Starbursts, Quasars, the Cosmic X-Ray Background, Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxy Spheroids
• Secular Evolution and the Formation of Pseudobulges in Disk Galaxies
• The Relation between Black Hole Mass, Bulge Mass, and Near-Infrared Luminosity
• On the Black Hole Mass - Bulge Mass Relation
• The reversal of the star formation-density relation in the distant universe
• A Catalog of Quasar Properties from SDSS DR7
• A Highly Consistent Framework for the Evolution of the Star-Forming "Main Sequence" from z~0-6
• Efficient Generation of Jets from Magnetically Arrested Accretion on a Rapidly Spinning Black Hole
• The Co-Evolution of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes: Insights from Surveys of the Contemporary Universe
• What Powers Ultra-luminous IRAS Galaxies?
• Spectroscopic Target Selection in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: The Quasar Sample
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog V. Seventh Data Release
• The SDSS Quasar Survey: Quasar Luminosity Function from Data Release Three
• The GMRT 150 MHz All-sky Radio Survey: First Alternative Data Release TGSS ADR1
• AGN Black Hole Masses and Bolometric Luminosities
• The host galaxies of radio-loud AGN: mass dependencies, gas cooling and AGN feedback
• The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey - I. Survey Description and Preliminary Data Release
• Studies in Astronomical Time Series Analysis. VI. Bayesian Block Representations
• The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey - II. First data release
• The cosmological evolution of quasar black-hole masses
• Quasars, their host galaxies, and their central black holes
• Optical and Radio Properties of Extragalactic Sources Observed by the FIRST and SDSS Surveys
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog: Fourteenth Data Release
• CANDELS: Constraining the AGN-Merger Connection with Host Morphologies at z~2
• Red and Reddened Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Major Galaxy Mergers Only Trigger the Most Luminous AGN
• Radio sources in the 6dFGS: Local luminosity functions at 1.4 GHz for star-forming galaxies and radio-loud AGN
• The Difference between Radio-Loud and Radio-Quiet Active Galaxies
• A comparative HST imaging study of the host galaxies of radio-quiet quasars, radio-loud quasars and radio galaxies: Paper I
• The SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Quasar Target Selection for Data Release Nine
• The Mean Star Formation Rate of X-ray selected Active Galaxies and its Evolution from z=2.5: Results from PEP-Herschel
• On Black Hole Masses and Radio Loudness in AGN
• GOODS-Herschel: The far-infrared view of star formation in AGN host galaxies since z~3
• The Radio-Loud Fraction of Quasars is a Strong Function of Redshift and Optical Luminosity
• Timing the starburst-AGN connection
• On the origin of radio emission in radio quiet quasars
• Accretion and star formation rates in low redshift type-II active galactic nuclei
• Signals from the Noise: Image Stacking for Quasars in the FIRST Survey
• Revisiting the Fanaroff-Riley dichotomy and radio-galaxy morphology with the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS)
• The LoTSS view of radio AGN in the local Universe. The most massive galaxies are always switched on
• The SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Quasar Target Selection
• The SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: The Quasar Luminosity Function from Data Release Nine
• Galaxy Interactions Trigger Rapid Black Hole Growth: an unprecedented view from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey
• The faint radio sky: radio astronomy becomes mainstream
• The radio-luminosity - black hole mass correlation for quasars from the FIRST Bright Quasar Survey, and a ``unification scheme'' for radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars
• LOFAR/H-ATLAS: The low-frequency radio luminosity - star-formation rate relation
• A remarkably flat relationship between the average star formation rate and AGN luminosity for distant X-ray AGN
• The Relationship Between Black Hole Growth and Star Formation in Seyfert Galaxies
• Star formation in AGN hosts in GOODS-N
• Prevalence of radio jets associated with galactic outflows and feedback from quasars
• The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) III. First Data Release: optical/IR identifications and value-added catalogue
• No clear submillimetre signature of suppressed star formation amongst X-ray luminous AGNs
• LOFAR/H-ATLAS: A deep low-frequency survey of the Herschel-ATLAS North Galactic Pole field
• The LOFAR window on star-forming galaxies and AGN - curved radio SEDs and IR-radio correlation at $0<z<2.5$
• The relationship between radio luminosity and black-hole mass in optically-selected quasars
• The evolution of active galactic nuclei and their spins
• Mergers, AGN, and 'Normal' Galaxies: Contributions to the Distribution of Star Formation Rates and Infrared Luminosity Functions
• Luminosity function, sizes and FR dichotomy of radio-loud AGN
• The VLA-COSMOS 3~GHz Large Project: Cosmic evolution of radio AGN and implications for radio-mode feedback since z~5
• Magnetic flux paradigm for radio-loudness of AGN
• On the orientation and magnitude of the black hole spin in galactic nuclei
• The radio properties of radio-quiet quasars
• The radio properties of radio-quiet quasars
• AGN and Starburst Radio Emission from Optically Selected QSOs
• Star formation in quasar hosts and the origin of radio emission in radio-quiet quasars
• The radio structure of radio-quiet quasars
• Jet Power and Black Hole Spin: Testing an Empirical Relationship and Using it to Predict the Spins of Six Black Holes
• The cosmic evolution of radio-AGN feedback to z=1
• Is there a Dichotomy in the Radio Loudness Distribution of Quasars?
• Galaxy Evolution in the Radio Band: The Role of Starforming Galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei
• The central engines of radio-quiet quasars
• Observational constraints on the powering mechanism of transient relativistic jets
• The mean star formation rates of unobscured QSOs: searching for evidence of suppressed or enhanced star formation
• AGN vs. host galaxy properties in the COSMOS field
• Black hole accretion and host galaxies of obscured quasars in XMM-COSMOS
• Disclosing the Radio Loudness Distribution Dichotomy in Quasars: An Unbiased Monte Carlo Approach Applied to the SDSS-FIRST Quasar Sample
• The Radio Loud / Radio Quiet dichotomy: news from the 2dF QSO Redshift Survey
• The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey IV. First Data Release: Photometric redshifts and rest-frame magnitudes
• Fundamental differences in the radio properties of red and blue quasars: evolution strongly favoured over orientation
• The host galaxy/AGN connection in nearby early-type galaxies. A new view of the origin of the radio-quiet/radio-loud dichotomy?
• Major mergers are not the dominant trigger for high-accretion AGNs at z = 2
• Radio-Quiet Quasars in the VIDEO Survey: Evidence for AGN-powered radio emission at S_1.4GHz < 1 mJy
• Virial Black Hole Mass Estimates for 280,000 AGNs from the SDSS Broad-Band Photometry and Single Epoch Spectra
• Herschel-ATLAS: The link between accretion luminosity and star formation in quasar host galaxies
• Calibration of ultraviolet, mid-infrared and radio star formation rate indicators
• LoTSS/HETDEX: Optical quasars I. Low-frequency radio properties of optically selected quasars
• [On the jet contribution to the AGN cosmic energy budget
• Evidence that the AGN dominates the radio emission in z ~ 1 radio-quiet quasars
• Observational constraints on the spin of the most massive black holes from radio observations
• Star Formation in Luminous Quasars at 2<z<3
• Constraining jet production scenarios by studies of Narrow-Line-Radio-Galaxies
• The redshift evolution of major merger triggering of luminous AGN: a slight enhancement at z$\sim$2
• The contribution of spin to jet-disk coupling in black holes
• The multiwavelength properties of red QSOs -- Evidence for dusty winds as the origin of QSO reddening
• Mean and Extreme Radio Properties of Quasars and the Origin of Radio Emission
• Unveiling the origin of the radio emission in radio-quiet quasars
• Fundamental differences in the radio properties of red and blue quasars: enhanced compact AGN emission in red quasars
• The evolution of star formation in quasar host galaxies
• The limited role of galaxy mergers in driving stellar mass growth over cosmic time
• Strong lensing reveals jets in a sub-microJy radio quiet quasar
• A Catalog of AGN Host Galaxies Observed with HST/ACS: Correlations between Star Formation and AGN Activity
• LeMMINGs. II. The e-MERLIN legacy survey of nearby galaxies. The deepest radio view of the Palomar sample on parsec scale
• Probing the Radio Loud/Quiet AGN dichotomy with quasar clustering
• Fundamental differences in the radio properties of red and blue quasars: Insight from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS)
• Compact radio cores in radio-quiet AGNs
• Star formation in luminous quasar host galaxies at z=1-2
• The origin of radio emission in broad absorption line quasars: Results from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey
• Host Galaxies of low z Radio-loud Quasars: A search of HST archives
• Secularly powered outflows from AGN: the dominance of non-merger driven supermassive black hole growth
• The interaction-driven starburst contribution to the cosmic star formation rate density
• Herschel observed Stripe 82 quasars and their host galaxies: connections between the AGN activity and the host galaxy star formation
• The LOFAR Two Metre Sky Survey: Deep Fields. II. The ELAIS-N1 LOFAR deep field
• High-redshift obscured quasars: radio emission at sub-kiloparsec scales
• A deep radio view of the evolution of the cosmic star-formation rate density from a stellar-mass selected sample in VLA-COSMOS
• Cosmic star formation probed via parametric stack-fitting of known sources to radio imaging

Cited by in corpus (34)

• The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey Deep Fields Data Release 1: V. Survey description, source classifications and host galaxy properties
• Quasar Feedback Survey: Multi-phase outflows, turbulence and evidence for feedback caused by low power radio jets inclined into the galaxy disk
• Discovery of 24 radio-bright quasars at $4.9\le z\le 6.6$ using low-frequency radio observations
• Identifying active galactic nuclei via brightness temperature with sub-arcsecond International LOFAR Telescope observations
• The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey: the radio view of the cosmic star formation history
• Jets in radio galaxies and quasars: an observational perspective
• VLBI Observations of a sample of Palomar-Green quasars I: parsec-scale morphology
• LeMMINGs. III. The e-MERLIN Legacy Survey of the Palomar sample. Exploring the origin of nuclear radio emission in active and inactive galaxies through the [O III] -- radio connection
• The PG-RQS survey. Building the radio spectral distribution of radio-quiet quasars. I. The 45-GHz data
• A blazar in the epoch of reionization
• Another piece to the puzzle: radio detection of a JWST detected AGN candidate
• Ubiquitous radio emission in quasars: predominant AGN origin and a connection to jets, dust and winds
• The LOFAR-eFEDS survey: The incidence of radio and X-ray AGN and the disk-jet connection
• A novel Bayesian approach for decomposing the radio emission of quasars: I. Modelling the radio excess in red quasars
• How does the radio enhancement of broad absorption line quasars relate to colour and accretion rate?
• SPARCS-North Wide-field VLBI Survey: Exploring the resolved MicroJy extra-galactic radio source population with EVN+e-MERLIN
• Kpc-scale Radio Structure in $z\sim 0.25$ Radio-Quiet QSOs
• The interaction of the active nucleus with the host galaxy interstellar medium
• Selection of powerful radio galaxies with machine learning
• VLA Snapshot Continuum Survey of FRI Quasar Candidates Selected from the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS)
• A novel Bayesian approach for decomposing the radio emission of quasars: II. Link between quasar radio emission and black hole mass
• How are Red and Blue Quasars Different? The Radio Properties
• Monster radio jet (>66 kpc) observed in quasar at z$\sim$5
• Exploring the Connection between UV/Optical Variations and Radio Emission in Radio-Quiet Quasars: Clues on Radio Emission Origin
• Radio-loudness statistics of quasars from Quaia-VLASS
• Time-domain Radio-loudness of Active Galactic Nuclei: Intermittency, Memory, and Jet Escape
• A Spatially Resolved Evolutionary Sequence of Multi-wavelength AGN Host Galaxies
• Exploring the quasar disc-wind-jet connection with LoTSS and SDSS
• Deblending the MIGHTEE-COSMOS survey with XID+: The resolved radio source counts to $S_{1.4}\approx 5\mu$Jy
• Tracing Star Formation in Quasar Hosts via [O II] $\lambda$3727: A Kinematically Consistent Approach
• Implication of a galaxy-scale negative feedback by one of the most powerful multi-phase outflows in a hyper-luminous infrared galaxy at the intermediate redshift
• Implications of the continuous radio-loudness distribution among AGNs in the local Universe
• Using strong lensing to understand the microJy radio emission in two radio quiet quasars at redshift 1.7
• Deep ASKAP EMU Survey of the GAMA23 field: Properties of radio sources