2001/02/09 by R. J. McLure, J. S. Dunlop, McLure, R. J. +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0102166
6 pages, 4 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the workshop on "QSO hosts and their environments", IAA, Granada, 10-12 Jan 2001
arxiv created 2001/02/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
The results of a comprehensive study of the cluster environments and black-hole masses of an optically matched sample of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars are presented. No evidence is found for a difference in large-scale environments, with both quasar classes found to be located in clusters of Abell class ∼0 . Conversely, virial black-hole mass estimates based on Hβ line-widths show a clear difference in the quasar black-hole mass distributions. Our results suggest that a black-hole mass of ∼109\Msolar is required to produce a powerful radio-loud quasar, and that it is black-hole mass and accretion rate which hold the key to the radio-loudness dichotomy.