The Radio‐Loud Fraction of Quasars is a Strong Function of Redshift and Optical Luminosity

Abstract

Using a sample of optically selected quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we have determined the radio-loud fraction (RLF) of quasars as a function of redshift and optical luminosity. The sample contains more than 30,000 objects and spans a redshift range of 0 10 to define radio-loud quasars, we find that b0 = -0.132 ± 0.116, bz = -2.052 ± 0.261, and bM = -0.183 ± 0.025. The RLF at z = 0.5 declines from 24.3% to 5.6% as luminosity decreases from M2500 = -26 to -22, and the RLF at M2500 = -26 declines from 24.3% to 4.1% as redshift increases from 0.5 to 3, suggesting that the RLF is a strong function of both redshift and luminosity. We also examine the impact of flux-related selection effects on the RLF determination using a series of tests and find that the dependence of the RLF on redshift and luminosity is highly likely to be physical, and that the selection effects we considered are not responsible for the dependence.