Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Quasar winds are a potential contributor to the radio emission observed in the so-called 'radio-quiet' quasars. Extremely High Velocity Outflows (EHVOs), with bulk velocities >0.1c, represent some of the most energetic of these winds. In this work, we investigate the radio properties of quasars hosting EHVOs in order to assess whether such high-velocity winds contribute to the observed radio emission. We cross-match the catalogue of EHVOs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with the high-sensitivity Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) Data Release 3. We find that EHVO quasars exhibit a significantly higher radio-detection fraction of 38 per cent compared to an underlying parent quasar population at 24 per cent. By constructing control samples using nearest-neighbour matching, we show that matching the C IV emission line blueshift alone is sufficient to reproduce the elevated radio-detection fraction in a global sense; however, differences still remain in the radio-detection fraction as a function of C IV emission blueshift between the EHVO distribution and any matched sample, suggesting that some additional mechanism is at play. Furthermore, composite spectra reveal no significant differences in the ultraviolet absorption profiles between radio-detected and radio-undetected EHVOs, although we identify a mild positive correlation between maximum outflow velocity and radio luminosity. Our results suggest that EHVOs likely represent a subset of the quasars which host fast winds that are observed along particular lines-of-sight, and that radio emission associated with such winds remains a plausible mechanism.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Rankine, Amy L., Hidalgo, Paola Rodríguez
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Department of Energy, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Yale University, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Vanderbilt University, Ohio State University, University of Washington, Johns Hopkins University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Notre Dame, University of Portsmouth, New Mexico State University, York University, Leverhulme Trust, University of Oxford, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Office of Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
OpenAlex ID: W7212063457