Radio properties of optically selected quasars

Quasars with radio luminosity detectable at this limit are under-represented at faint absolute blue magnitudes (M_B_>=-24), an effect which cannot be explained by a potential LBQS selection bias against quasars which have large radio luminosities and small optical luminosities.

The radio-loud (8GHz luminosity >10^25^W/Hz) fraction is observed to change as a function of redshift and MB, for M_B_<-24, although the causal variable is ambiguous. The description most consistent with the available data is that radio-loud fraction is approximately constant over the range -27.5<M_B_<-24 and increases at brighter absolute magnitudes. The radio-loud fraction as a function of redshift reaches a local maximum at z~1, and, aside from the effects of increased radio-loud fraction at bright M_B_, remains roughly constant to redshifts approaching 5.