Optical spectra and redshifts of 15 flat-spectrum radio sources

Optical spectra for 15 QSO candidates, selected from optical identifications of flat-spectrum radio sources, are presented. Six of them have obvious emission line features, which confirm them to be quasars. The largest redshift is 3.45 for PKS 0335-122. Selection effects in the search for quasars with redshifts greater than 3.5 are discussed.     

Identifications of RR Lyrae Stars and Quasars from the Simulated Data of Mephisto-W Survey

We have investigated the feasibilities and accuracies of the identifications of RR Lyrae stars and quasars from the simulated data of the Multi-channel Photomet...     

8个ROSAT X射线源和5G射电源被证认为类星体

１９９５年５月，使用２．１６ｍ望远镜对ＲＯＳＡＴＸ射线源进行光学证认期间，发现８个ＲＯＳＡＴＸ射线源和５Ｇ射电源的光学对应体是以前未发现的类星体，其红移范围从０．３３３至１．０９１。本文给出了这些类星体的多波段特性。     

The spectra of three newly discovered high-redshift quasars

Spectra of three high-redshift quasars discovered on low-dispersion objective prism plates were obtained. We present the emission line identifications and redshifts of the objects. Equivalent widths, line widths and low-resolution line profiles are given characterizing the quasar emission region. The Lyα and CIV equivalent widths indicate that the considered quasars are luminous objects at high redshift. Both these equivalent widths are too low by a factor 4, whereas the N V/Lyα ratio is 5 times larger than predicted by the photoionisation models. The line profiles are compared with logarithmic, electron-scattering and Gaussian profiles. In all the spectra rich absorption line systems are evident.     

Search for Optical Identifications in the 5C3-Radio Survey II. Statistical Treatment and Results

On plates of the large Schmidt-telescope of Karl-Schwarzschild-Observatory Tautenburg, taken by F. BÖRNGEN, 139 radio sources of the ₅C₃ area were inspected for possible identifications with optical objects. The results are published in paper I and in the appendix of the present paper II. A detailed analysis of these objects showed a relatively large number of about 65 real identifications up to the utmost plate limit B ≈ 21^m.7, which corresponds to an identification rate of about 47%. The individual reliability of each possible optical identification is estimated (table 6). Apparently the identified objects (see tables 4 and 6) are galaxies, “blue” and “neutral” quasars, and one H II-region of the Andromeda nebula. It is of great cosmological interest that no “red” quasars could be found.     

Ovi and Heii emission lines in the spectra of quasars

The plasma-laser star model for quasars, which is based on the hypotheses that there is no red shift in the spectra of quasars and that the strength of the emission lines is due to laser action, is further developed. Continuity is shown to exist between the spectra of Ovi sequence planetary nuclei, Sanduleak stars, and 10 quasars. The Ovi 3811, 3834 and Heii 4686 emission lines in the spectra of these 10 quasars are identified. Candidate identifications for other quasar lines are also suggested. Making use of the similarity between the spectra of Ovi sequence planetary nuclei and those of the 10 quasars, absolute magnitudes, temperatures, and masses of these quasars are estimated. The distribution of quasars in galactic coordinates is also discussed. Three predictions are made.     

The Deep X-Ray Radio Blazar Survey (DXRBS) – II. New identifications

We have searched the archived, pointed ROSAT Position Sensitive Proportional Counter data for blazars by correlating the WGACAT X-ray data base with several publicly available radio catalogues, restricting our candidate list to serendipitous X-ray sources with a flat radio spectrum ( α _r≤0.70, where S _ν ∝ ν ^{− α} ). This makes up the Deep X-ray Radio Blazar Survey (DXRBS). Here we present new identifications and spectra for 106 sources, including 86 radio-loud quasars, 11 BL Lacertae objects, and nine narrow-line radio galaxies. Together with our previously published objects and already-known sources, our sample now contains 298 identified objects: 234 radio-loud quasars [181 flat-spectrum quasars: FSRQ ( α _r≤0.50) and 53 steep-spectrum quasars: SSRQ], 36 BL Lacs and 28 narrow-line radio galaxies. Redshift information is available for 96 per cent of these. Thus our selection technique is ∼90 per cent efficient at finding radio-loud quasars and BL Lacs. Reaching 5-GHz radio fluxes ∼50 mJy and 0.1–2.0 keV X-ray fluxes a few ×10⁻¹⁴ erg cm⁻² s⁻¹, DXRBS is the faintest and largest flat-spectrum radio sample with nearly complete (∼85 per cent) identification. We review the properties of the DXRBS blazar sample, including redshift distribution and coverage of the X-ray-radio–power plane for quasars and BL Lacs. Additionally, we touch upon the expanded multiwavelength view of blazars provided by DXRBS. By sampling for the first time the faint end of the radio and X-ray luminosity functions, this sample will allow us to investigate the blazar phenomenon and the validity of unified schemes down to relatively low powers.     

Optical and radio studies of radio sources

We present the classification of optical identifications and radio spectra of six radio sources from a complete (in flux density) sample in the declination range 10° to 12°30′ (J2000.0). The observations were carried out with the 6-m Special Astrophysical Observatory telescope (Russia) in the wavelength range 3600–10000 Å, the 2.1-m GHAO telescope (Mexico) in the range 4200–9000 Å, and the RATAN-600 radio telescope in the frequency range 0.97–21.7 GHz. Three of the six objects under study are classified as quasars, one is a BL Lac object, one is an absorption-line radio galaxy, and one is an emission-line radio galaxy. Five objects have flat radio spectra, and one object has a power-law radio spectrum. All of the radio sources identified as quasars or BL Lac objects show variable radio flux densities. The spectra of three objects were separated into extended and compact components.     

新发现的6个X选类星体和1个Seyfert星系

利用ＲＯＳＡＴＶＬＡ方法筛选，从ＲＯＳＡＴＸ射线源中选出了一批新的ＢＬＬａｃ天体和类星体的候选体．１９９６年１２月８日至１７日，利用北京天文台２．１６ｍ望远镜和ＯＭＲ摄谱仪，对这批新候选体进行了光谱认证．经ＳＵＮ工作站处理，又发现了５个新的Ｘ选类星体和１个Ｓｅｙｆｅｒｔ星系．此外，在扩大光谱波长覆盖范围到８５００的条件下，重新观测了作者去年所发现的ＢＬＬａｃ天体，结果发现２３１８＋３０４在７２５９处有一很强的Ｈα６５６３＋［ＮＩ］６５４８，６５８３发射线．因此，可以确定２３１８＋３０４是一个类星体，而不是一个ＢＬＬａｃ天体．     

Spectrographic observations of optical counterparts of 5C radio sources and of blue objects

First results of spectrographic observations of bright optical 5C1 and 5C2 radio candidates and of some blue radio-quiet objects are presented. Among them are three emission line galaxies, three possible quasars and four galactic stars.     

The large-scale distribution of quasars identified with strong radio sources at 5 GHz

The large-scale angular distribution of quasars from a complete sample of extragalactic radio sources is examined at different redshifts. The sample contains 264 quasars which have been found so far among the complete sample of 518 radio sources stronger than. 1 Jy at 5 GHz. Of these, 19 quasars have redshift z > 2. Dividing the entire sky into three separate declination zones of equal area, the counts of quasars seem to indicate a deficit of high redshift quasars in the northernmost declination zone. On the other hand, the Iow-redshift quasars (z < 1) appear fairly uniformly distributed. We discuss some possible selection effects that might have led to the apparent anomaly at high redshifts and estimate the expected number of high-redshift quasars amongst the radio sources in the sample for which redshifts are presently not available.     

新发现的X射线选活动星系核、白矮星和激变变星

为了研究ROSATX射线选亮近类星体巡天的选择判据 ,从 1 995年 4月至 1 996年 1 0月期间 ,利用北京天文台 2 .1 6米望远镜进行了试验观测 ,发现了 73个类星体、2 7个赛弗特星系、1个BLLac候选体、1个白矮星和 1个激变变星     

A search for distant radio-loud quasars in the CLASS survey: three new radio-selected quasars at z > 4

We report on the search for distant radio-loud quasars in the Cosmic Lens All Sky Survey (CLASS) of flat spectrum radio sources with S _5GHz>30 mJy . Unresolved optical counterparts were selected from APM scans of POSS-I plates, with e <19.0 and red o − e >2.0 colours, in an effective area of ∼6400 deg². Four sources were found to be quasars with z >4 , of which one was previously known. This sample bridges the gap between the strong radio surveys with S _5GHz>200 mJy and the samples of radio-weak quasars that can be generated via radio observations of optically selected quasars. In addition, four new quasars at z >3 have been found. The selection criteria result in a success-rate of ∼1:7 for radio-loud quasars at z >4 , which is a significant improvement over previous studies. This search yields a surface density of 1 per 1600 deg², which is about a factor of ∼15 lower than that found in a similar search for radio-quiet quasars at z >4 . The study presented here is strongly biased against quasars beyond z >4.5 , since the e -passband of the POSS-I only samples the spectra shortward of 1200 Å at these redshifts.     

Properties of radio-detected broad absorption line quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We investigate the optical colors and radio morphologies of 214 broad absorption line (BAL) quasars with FIRST detections in the redshift range 1.68≤z≤4.93 drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 5 (DR5) quasar catalog. The radio-detected SDSS BAL quasars are found to have Δ(g?i) colors significantly redder than their non-BAL counterparts, with a mean color difference of 0.52 mag, in good agreement with the O–E (roughly B–R) color difference between radio-selected BAL and non-BAL quasars in the FIRST Bright Quasar Survey (FBQS). The vast majority (～90 %) of the radio-detected BAL quasars are found to be core-only sources, most of which show compact radio morphologies, consistent with the morphological results for the FBQS sample. Moreover, within the FIRST-detected SDSS sample, BAL quasars with GB6 detections are found to span a wide range in radio spectral indices, indistinguishable from that of non-BAL quasars, indicating no special line of sight for the presence of BALs. The properties of the present SDSS sample are more consistent with the evolutionary model, in which BALs are at an early evolutionary stage of quasars.     

Relativistic beaming effects in the spectra of cores and hotspots in radio galaxies and quasars

We present the results of multiwavelength observations of cores and hotspots, at L , C , X and U bands with the Very Large Array, of a matched sample of radio galaxies and quasars selected from the Molonglo Reference Catalogue . We use these observations to determine the spectra of cores and hotspots, and test the unified scheme for radio galaxies and quasars. Radio cores have been detected at all wavelengths in all of the quasars in our sample, whereas only ∼50 per cent of the galaxies have cores detected in at least one of the wavelengths . The degree of core prominence in this sample is consistent with the unified scheme for radio galaxies and quasars. A comparison of the distributions of the two-point spectral index of the cores in our sample of lobe-dominated quasars, with the distributions in a matched sample of core-dominated quasars, shows that the distributions for these two classes are significantly different, and this is consistent with the expectations of the unified scheme. The difference in the spectral indices of the two hotspots on opposite sides is also significantly larger for quasars than for radio galaxies, as is expected in the unified scheme. We also investigate the relationship between the spectral index of the hotspots and the redshift or luminosity for our sample of sources.     

The fraction and mid-infrared properties of broad absorption line quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We present the results of a study which uses a sample of 1822 Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasars with reliable Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) detections in the redshift range 1.7≤z≤4.38 to investigate the mid-infrared fraction of broad absorption line (BAL) quasars. The BAL quasars in the sample include both high-ionization BAL (HiBAL) quasars that show broad absorption from C?iv and low-ionization BAL (LoBAL) quasars that show additional broad absorption from Mg?ii. The fraction of C?iv BAL quasars with nonzero absorption index (AI) is found to be 38.7±1.2 %, in good agreement with that derived for the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) sample. The C?iv BAL quasar fractions remain constant with magnitude in the WISE 3.4 μm (W1) and 4.6 μm (W2) bands, and increase rapidly with decreasing magnitude in the WISE 12 μm (W3) and 22 μm (W4) bands. The nonzero AI fraction of 44.5±2.1 % determined in the WISE W4 band is more likely to represent the intrinsic BAL quasar fraction. No evidence that the fraction is a strong function of redshift is found. At 1.7≤z≤2.15, the overall mid-infrared LoBAL fraction is $3.3^{+0.6}_{-0.5}~\%$ and the fractions increase significantly with decreasing magnitude in all four of WISE bands. Moreover, it is found that the mean optical-to-WISE colors of BAL quasars are ?0.2 mag redder than that of non-BAL quasars, while the traditional (nonzero balnicity) BAL quasars are redder than the nontraditional BAL quasars by ?0.15 mag, which suggest a continuum of more reddening from non-BAL to nontraditional BAL to traditional BAL. No evidence that nontraditional BALs are a distinct class from traditional BALs is found. Finally, it is shown that the mean optical-to-WISE colors of LoBALs are ?0.4 mag redder than that of HiBALs at 1.7≤z≤2.15.     

Color-Redshift Relations and Photometric Redshift Estimations of Quasars in Large Sky Surveys

With a recently constructed composite quasar spectrum and the X2 minimization technique, we describe a general method for estimating the photometric redshifts of a large sample of quasars by deriving theoretical color-redshift relations and comparing the theoretical colors with the observed ones. We estimated the photometric redshifts from the 5-band SDSS photometric data of 18678 quasars in the first major data release of SDSS and compared them with their spectroscopic redshifts. The difference is less than 0.1 for 47% of the quasars and less than 0.2 for 68%. Based on the calculation of the theoretical color-color diagrams of stars, galaxies and quasars both on the SDSS system and on the BATC system, we expect that we would be able to select candidates of high redshift quasars more efficaciously with the latter than with the former, provided the BATC survey can detect objects with magnitudes fainter than 21.     

Monsters and babies from the first / iras survey

Radio continuum emission at cm wavelengths is relatively little affectedby extinction. When combined with far-infrared (FIR) surveys thisprovides for a convenient and unbiased method to select (radio-loud)AGN and starbursts deeply embedded in gas and dust–rich galaxies. Suchradio-selected FIR samples are useful for detailed investigations ofthe complex relationships between (radio) galaxy and starburst activity, and to determine whether ULIRGs are powered by hidden quasars (monsters) or young stars (babies).We present the results of a large program to obtain identifications andspectra of radio-selected, optically faint IRAS/FSC objects using theFIRST/VLA 20 cm survey (Becker, White and Helfand 1995). These objects are all radio-`quiet' in the sense that their radiopower / FIR luminosities follow the well-known radio/FIR relationshipfor star forming galaxies.We compare these results to a previous study by our group of a sampleof radio-`loud' IRAS/FSC ULIRGs selected from the Texas 365 MHzsurvey (Douglas etal. 1996). Many of these objects alsoshow evidence for dominant, A-type stellar populations, as well as highionization lines usually associated with AGN. These radio-loud ULIRGshave properties intermediate between those of starbursts and quasars,suggesting a possible evolutionary connection.Deep Keck spectroscopic observations of three ULIRGs from these samplesare presented, including high signal-to-noise spectropolarimetry.The polarimetry observations failed to show evidence of a hidden quasar inpolarized (scattered) light in the two systems in which the stellar lightwas dominated by A-type stars. Although observations of a larger samplewould be needed to allow a general conclusion, our current data suggestthat a large fraction of ULIRGs may be powered by luminous starbursts,not by hidden, luminous AGN (quasars).     

Discovery of radio-loud quasars with z=4.72 and z=4.010

We report the discovery of two radio-loud quasars with redshifts greater than 4: GB1428+4217, with z =4.72, and GB1713+2148 with z =4.01. This doubles the number of published radio-selected quasars with z >4, bringing the total to 4. GB1428+4217 is the third most distant quasar known and the highest redshift radio and X-ray source currently known. It has a radio flux density at 5 GHz of 259±31 mJy and an optical magnitude of R ∼20.9. The rest frame absolute UV magnitude, M_v (1450 Å), is −26.7, similar to that of the archetypal radio-selected quasar 3C273 [ z =0.158; M_v (1450 Å)=−26.4]. GB1428+4217 is tentatively detected in ROSAT PSPC observations, which has been confirmed by more recent ROSAT observations described in a companion paper by Fabian et al. Both quasars were discovered during the CCD imaging phase of an investigation into the evolution of the space density of radio-loud quasars at high redshift. Combined with our earlier survey results, these objects give a lower limit on the space density of quasars with radio power P _{5 GHz}>5.8×10²⁶ W Hz⁻¹ sr⁻¹ between z =4 and z =5 of 1.4±0.9×10⁻¹⁰ Mpc⁻³. This can be compared to 2.9±0.2×10⁻¹⁰ Mpc⁻³ at z =2 from Dunlop & Peacock for flat-spectrum sources of the same luminosity.