Related papers: Quasar Host Orientation and Polarization: Insights…
We searched the HST archives for unpublished WFPC2 images of low redshift (z<0.5) radio loud quasars (RLQ). This led to the identification of 11 objects. We present here the results of the analysis of these images from which we derive the…
Since the discovery of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and their subclasses, a unification scheme of AGN has been long sought. Orientation-based unified models predict that some of the diversity within AGN subclasses can be explained by the…
This paper presents the first high-resolution and high-sensitivity study of the radio properties of optically selected type~2 quasars. We used the Very Large Array at 8.4 GHz to observe 59 sources drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey…
We investigate the clustering properties of 45441 radio-quiet quasars (RQQs) and 3493 radio-loud quasars (RLQs) drawn from a joint use of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Faint Images of the Radio Sky at 20 cm (FIRST) surveys in the…
We use the SDSS, along with the NVSS and the WENSS to define a sample of 746 radio-loud quasars and measure their 330MHz to 1.4GHz spectral indexes. Following previous authors we take the spectral index as an indicator of the orientation…
The orientation-based unification model proposes that radio-loud quasars and radio galaxies are the same objects observed at different angles. A key prediction of this model is that the quasars are seen at smaller angles to the line of…
A survey measuring quasar polarization vectors has been started in two regions towards the North and South Galactic Poles. Here, We review the discovery of significant correlations of orientations of polarization vectors over huge angular…
We present the final results from our deep HST imaging study of the hosts of radio-quiet quasars (RQQs), radio-loud quasars (RLQs) and radio galaxies (RGs). We describe new WFPC2 R-band observations for 14 objects and model these images in…
Gamma-ray emitting blazars have been the targets of many recent or ongoing monitoring programmes. The resulting multi-wavelength data archives are ideal for studying the quiescent and variable behaviour of the blazar PKS 2155-304. Here,…
We present stellar velocity dispersion measurements in the host galaxies of 10 luminous quasars (M_V < -23) using the Ca H&K lines in off-nuclear spectra. We combine these data with effective radii and magnitudes from the literature to…
We present the first results from a major Hubble Space Telescope program designed to investigate the cosmological evolution of quasar host galaxies from z~2 to the present day. Here we describe J and H-band NICMOS imaging of two quasar…
We have used the very large JVAS/CLASS 8.4-GHz surveys of flat-spectrum radio sources to test the hypothesis that there is a systematic alignment of polarization position angle vectors on cosmological scales of the type claimed by…
(Abridged) With the largest homogeneous quasar sample with optical spectra and robust radio morphology classifications assembled to date, we investigate quasar radio and optical properties with unprecedented statistical power. The data…
The relation between star formation rates and stellar masses, i.e. the galaxy main sequence, is a useful diagnostic of galaxy evolution. We present the distributions relative to the main sequence of 55 optically-selected PG and 12…
We present K-band imaging and photometry of a sample of 52 radio loud quasars (RQs) selected from the B3 survey with flux densities above 0.5 Jy at 408 MHz. The optical completeness of the sample is 90% and the quasars cover the redshift…
We present VLT/ISAAC near-infrared imaging of the host galaxies of 15 low luminosity quasars at 1 < z < 2. This work complements our studies to trace the cosmological evolution of the host galaxies of high luminosity quasars. The radio-loud…
We present the results of two complementary ground-based programmes to determine the host galaxy properties of radio-quiet and radio-loud quasars and to compare them with those of radio galaxies. Both infrared images and optical off-nuclear…
We present deep HST/WFPC2, rest-frame U images of 17 ~L* quasars at z=1 and z=2 (V and I bands respectively), designed to explore the host galaxies. We fit the images with simple axisymmetric galaxy models, including a point-source, in…
We present a detailed analysis of a sample of radio-detected quasars, obtained by matching together objects from the FIRST and 2dF Quasar Redshift Surveys. The dataset consists of 113 sources, spanning a redshift range 0.3 < z < 2.2, with…
Obscuration in high-redshift quasi-stellar objects (QSO) has a profound impact on our understanding of the evolution of supermassive black holes across the cosmic time. An accurate quantification of its relevance is therefore mandatory. We…