High-$z$ radio Quasars in RACS I: Selection, identification, and multi-wavelength properties

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Main Authors: Ighina, L., Caccianiga, A., Moretti, A., Broderick, J. W., Leung, J. K., Rigamonti, F., Seymour, N., Afonso, J., Connor, T., Vignali, C., Wang, Z., An, T., Arsioli, B., Bisogni, S., Dallacasa, D., Della Ceca, R., Liu, Y., López-Sánchez, A., Matute, I., Reynolds, C., Rossi, A., Spingola, C., Severgnini, P., Tavecchio, F.
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Published: 2025
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author Ighina, L.
Caccianiga, A.
Moretti, A.
Broderick, J. W.
Leung, J. K.
Rigamonti, F.
Seymour, N.
Afonso, J.
Connor, T.
Vignali, C.
Wang, Z.
An, T.
Arsioli, B.
Bisogni, S.
Dallacasa, D.
Della Ceca, R.
Liu, Y.
López-Sánchez, A.
Matute, I.
Reynolds, C.
Rossi, A.
Spingola, C.
Severgnini, P.
Tavecchio, F.
author_facet Ighina, L.
Caccianiga, A.
Moretti, A.
Broderick, J. W.
Leung, J. K.
Rigamonti, F.
Seymour, N.
Afonso, J.
Connor, T.
Vignali, C.
Wang, Z.
An, T.
Arsioli, B.
Bisogni, S.
Dallacasa, D.
Della Ceca, R.
Liu, Y.
López-Sánchez, A.
Matute, I.
Reynolds, C.
Rossi, A.
Spingola, C.
Severgnini, P.
Tavecchio, F.
contents Radio-bright, jetted quasars at $z>5$ serve as unique laboratories for studying supermassive black hole activity in the early Universe. In this work, we present a sample of high-$z$ jetted quasars selected from the combination of the radio Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) with deep wide-area optical/near-infrared surveys. From this cross-match we selected 45 new high-$z$ radio quasar candidates with S$_{888MHz}>1$ mJy and mag$z<21.3$ over an area of 16000deg$^2$. Using spectroscopic observations, we confirmed the high-$z$ nature of 24 new quasars, 13 at $4.5<z<5$ and 11 at $z>5$. If we also consider similar, in terms of radio/optical fluxes and sky position, quasars at $z>5$ already reported in the literature, the overall $z>5$ RACS sample is composed by 33 powerful quasars, expected to be ~90% complete at mag$z<21.3$ and S$_{888MHz}>1$ mJy. Having rest-frame radio luminosities in the range $νL_{1.4GHz}=10^{41.5}-10^{44.4}$ erg s$^{-1}$, this sample contains the most extreme radio quasars currently known in the early Universe. We also present all X-ray and radio data currently available for the sample, including new, dedicated {\it Chandra}, uGMRT, MeerKAT and ATCA observations for a sub-set of the sources. from the modelling of their radio emission, either with a single power law or a broken power law, we found that these systems have a wide variety of spectral shapes with most quasars (22) having a flat radio emission (i.e., $-0.5<α_{r}<0.5$). At the same time, the majority of the sources with X-ray coverage present a high-energy luminosity larger than the one expected from the X-ray corona only. Both the radio and X-ray properties of the high-$z$ RACS sample suggest that many of these sources have relativistic jets oriented close to our line of sight. (i.e., blazars) and can therefore be used to perform statistical studies on the entire jetted population at high redshift.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_10573
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle High-$z$ radio Quasars in RACS I: Selection, identification, and multi-wavelength properties
Ighina, L.
Caccianiga, A.
Moretti, A.
Broderick, J. W.
Leung, J. K.
Rigamonti, F.
Seymour, N.
Afonso, J.
Connor, T.
Vignali, C.
Wang, Z.
An, T.
Arsioli, B.
Bisogni, S.
Dallacasa, D.
Della Ceca, R.
Liu, Y.
López-Sánchez, A.
Matute, I.
Reynolds, C.
Rossi, A.
Spingola, C.
Severgnini, P.
Tavecchio, F.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Radio-bright, jetted quasars at $z>5$ serve as unique laboratories for studying supermassive black hole activity in the early Universe. In this work, we present a sample of high-$z$ jetted quasars selected from the combination of the radio Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) with deep wide-area optical/near-infrared surveys. From this cross-match we selected 45 new high-$z$ radio quasar candidates with S$_{888MHz}>1$ mJy and mag$z<21.3$ over an area of 16000deg$^2$. Using spectroscopic observations, we confirmed the high-$z$ nature of 24 new quasars, 13 at $4.5<z<5$ and 11 at $z>5$. If we also consider similar, in terms of radio/optical fluxes and sky position, quasars at $z>5$ already reported in the literature, the overall $z>5$ RACS sample is composed by 33 powerful quasars, expected to be ~90% complete at mag$z<21.3$ and S$_{888MHz}>1$ mJy. Having rest-frame radio luminosities in the range $νL_{1.4GHz}=10^{41.5}-10^{44.4}$ erg s$^{-1}$, this sample contains the most extreme radio quasars currently known in the early Universe. We also present all X-ray and radio data currently available for the sample, including new, dedicated {\it Chandra}, uGMRT, MeerKAT and ATCA observations for a sub-set of the sources. from the modelling of their radio emission, either with a single power law or a broken power law, we found that these systems have a wide variety of spectral shapes with most quasars (22) having a flat radio emission (i.e., $-0.5<α_{r}<0.5$). At the same time, the majority of the sources with X-ray coverage present a high-energy luminosity larger than the one expected from the X-ray corona only. Both the radio and X-ray properties of the high-$z$ RACS sample suggest that many of these sources have relativistic jets oriented close to our line of sight. (i.e., blazars) and can therefore be used to perform statistical studies on the entire jetted population at high redshift.
title High-$z$ radio Quasars in RACS I: Selection, identification, and multi-wavelength properties
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.10573