2009/02/14 by Ya-Di Xu, Yadi Xu, Xinwu Cao +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/694/2/l107
4 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJL
arxiv created 2009/02/14 · openalex publication_date 2009/03/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
In the frame of unification schemes for radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs), FR I radio galaxies are believed to be BL Lacertae (BL Lac) objects with the relativistic jet misaligned to our line of sight, and FR II radio galaxies correspond to misaligned radio quasars. The Ledlow–Owen dividing line for the FR I/FR II dichotomy in the optical absolute magnitude of the host galaxy–radio luminosity ( M R – L Rad ) plane can be translated to the line in the black hole mass–jet power ( M bh – Q jet ) plane by using two empirical relations: Q jet – L Rad and M bh – M R . We use a sample of radio quasars and BL Lac objects with measured black hole masses to explore the relation of the jet power with black hole mass, in which the jet power is estimated from the extended radio emission. It is found that the BL Lac objects are clearly separated from radio quasars by the Ledlow–Owen FR I/II dividing line in the M bh – Q jet plane. This strongly supports the unification schemes for FR I/BL Lac object and FR II/radio quasar. We find that the Eddington ratios L bol / L Edd of BL Lac objects are systematically lower than those of radio quasars in the sample with a rough division at L bol / L Edd ∼ 0.01, and the distribution of Eddington ratios of BL Lac objects/quasars exhibits a bimodal nature, which imply that the accretion mode of BL Lac objects may be different from that of radio quasars.