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Optically Selected Radio-Intermediate and Loud Quasars X-ray Emission Catalog

Metadata Updated: September 19, 2025

This catalog contains some of the results of an investigation into the X-ray properties of radio-intermediate and radio-loud quasars (RIQs and RLQs, respectively). The authors have combined large, modern optical (e.g., SDSS) and radio (e.g., FIRST) surveys with archival X-ray data from Chandra, XMM-Newton, and ROSAT to generate an optically selected sample that includes 188 RIQs and 603 RLQs. This sample is constructed independently of X-ray properties but has a high X-ray detection rate (85%); it provides broad and dense coverage of the luminosity-redshift (l-z) plane, including at high redshifts (22% of the objects have z = 2-5), and it extends to high radio-loudness R<sub>L</sub> values (33% of objects have R<sub>L</sub> = log(L<sub>r</sub>/L<sub>o</sub>) = 3 - 5), where L<sub>r</sub> and L<sub>o</sub> are the rest-frame monochromatic luminosities at 5 GHz and 2500 Angstroms, respectively). The authors measure the "excess" X-ray luminosity of RIQs and RLQs relative to radio-quiet quasars (RQQs) as a function of radio loudness and luminosity, and parametrize the X-ray luminosity of RIQs and RLQs both as a function of optical/UV luminosity and also as a joint function of optical/UV and radio luminosity. RIQs are only modestly X-ray bright relative to RQQs; it is only at high values of radio loudness (R<sub>L</sub> >~ 3.5) and radio luminosity that RLQs become strongly X-ray bright. This HEASARC table contains the primary sample from the reference paper. The authors consider three categories of quasars in this work: RQQs, RIQs, and RLQs (rather than just RQQs and RLQs), where the define RIQs to consist of objects with 1 <= R<sub>L</sub> < 2; consequently, the objects they classify as RLQs satisfy R<sub>L</sub> >= 2. The primary sample contained herein consists of 654 optically selected RIQs and RLQs with SDSS/FIRST observations and high-quality X-ray coverage from Chandra (171), XMM-Newton (202), or ROSAT (281). The primary sample is split nearly evenly between spectroscopic (312) and high-confidence photometric (342) quasars. Most (562) of the primary sample objects possess serendipitous off-axis X-ray coverage, while the remainder (92) were targeted in the observations used in this sample. The X-ray detection fraction for the primary sample is 84%; the detection fraction for those objects with Chandra/XMM-Newton/ROSAT coverage is 95%/92%/70% (typical ROSAT observations are comparatively less sensitive and have higher background). The authors adopt a standard cosmology with H<sub>0</sub> = 70 km s<sup>-1</sup> Mpc<sup>-1</sup>, Omega<sub>M</sub> = 0.3, and Omega<sub>Lambda</sub> = 0.7 throughout their study. This table was created by the HEASARC in October 2012 based on <a href="https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/ApJ/726/20">CDS Catalog J/ApJ/726/20</a> file table1.dat. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from NASA Data.json

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date April 11, 2025
Metadata Updated Date September 19, 2025
Publisher High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center
Maintainer
Identifier ivo://nasa.heasarc/osrilqxray
Data Last Modified 2025-09-10
Category Astrophysics
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 026:00
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 48e066cf-fb78-4f02-8abd-87f4183d6306
Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
Homepage URL https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/W3Browse/all/osrilqxray.html
Program Code 026:000
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash fefa3adc623c19fc8a25cce05661614bf1ea95736b58ba9fbe352ca6a64e1b7d
Source Schema Version 1.1

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