The radio loudness of SDSS quasars from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey: ubiquitous jet activity and constraints on star formation

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Royal Astronomical Society 506:4 (2021) 5888-5907

Authors:

C Macfarlane, Pn Best, J Sabater, G Gürkan, Matt Jarvis, Hja Röttgering, Rd Baldi, G Calistro Rivera, Kj Duncan, Lk Morabito, I Prandoni, E Retana-Montenegro

Abstract:

We examine the distribution of radio emission from ∼42 000 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, as measured in the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS). We present a model of the radio luminosity distribution of the quasars that assumes that every quasar displays a superposition of two sources of radio emission: active galactic nuclei (jets) and star formation. Our two-component model provides an excellent match to the observed radio flux density distributions across a wide range of redshifts and quasar optical luminosities; this suggests that the jet-launching mechanism operates in all quasars but with different powering efficiency. The wide distribution of jet powers allows for a smooth transition between the ‘radio-quiet’ and ‘radio-loud’ quasar regimes, without need for any explicit bimodality. The best-fitting model parameters indicate that the star formation rate of quasar host galaxies correlates strongly with quasar luminosity and also increases with redshift at least out to z ∼ 2. For a model where star formation rate scales as Lαbol(1+z)β⁠, we find α = 0.47 ± 0.01 and β = 1.61 ± 0.05, in agreement with far-infrared studies. Quasars contribute ≈0.15 per cent of the cosmic star formation rate density at z = 0.5, rising to 0.4 per cent by z ∼ 2. The typical radio jet power is seen to increase with both increasing optical luminosity and black hole mass independently, but does not vary with redshift, suggesting intrinsic properties govern the production of the radio jets. We discuss the implications of these results for the triggering of quasar activity and the launching of jets.

A fast semidiscrete optimal transport algorithm for a unique reconstruction of the early Universe

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) 506:1 (2021) 1165-1185

Authors:

Bruno Levy, Roya Mohayaee, Sebastian von Hausegger

Rates and delay times of Type Ia supernovae in the Dark Energy Survey

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) 506:3 (2021) 3330-3348

Authors:

P Wiseman, M Sullivan, M Smith, C Frohmaier, M Vincenzi, O Graur, B Popovic, P Armstrong, D Brout, TM Davis, L Galbany, SR Hinton, L Kelsey, R Kessler, C Lidman, A Möller, RC Nichol, B Rose, D Scolnic, M Toy, Z Zontou, J Asorey, D Carollo, K Glazebrook, GF Lewis, BE Tucker, TMC Abbott, M Aguena, S Allam, F Andrade-Oliveira, J Annis, D Bacon, E Bertin, D Brooks, E Buckley-Geer, DL Burke, A Carnero Rosell, M Carrasco Kind, J Carretero, M Costanzi, LN da Costa, MES Pereira, S Desai, HT Diehl, P Doel, S Everett, I Ferrero, B Flaugher, P Fosalba, J Frieman, J García-Bellido, E Gaztanaga, T Giannantonio, D Gruen, RA Gruendl, J Gschwend, G Gutierrez, DL Hollowood, K Honscheid, B Hoyle, DJ James, E Krause, K Kuehn, N Kuropatkin, MAG Maia, JL Marshall, P Martini, F Menanteau, R Miquel, R Morgan, RLC Ogando, A Palmese, F Paz-Chinchón, D Petravick, A Pieres, AA Plazas Malagón, AK Romer, E Sanchez, V Scarpine, M Schubnell, S Serrano, I Sevilla-Noarbe, M Soares-Santos, E Suchyta, MEC Swanson, G Tarle, D Thomas, C To, TN Varga, AR Walker, DES Collaboration

Muon reconstruction and identification efficiency in ATLAS using the full Run 2 pp collision data set at $$\sqrt{s}=13$$ TeV

The European Physical Journal C SpringerOpen 81:7 (2021) 578

Authors:

G Aad, B Abbott, DC Abbott, A Abed Abud, K Abeling, DK Abhayasinghe, SH Abidi, OS AbouZeid, NL Abraham, H Abramowicz, H Abreu, Y Abulaiti, BS Acharya, B Achkar, L Adam, C Adam Bourdarios, L Adamczyk, L Adamek, J Adelman, A Adiguzel, S Adorni, T Adye, AA Affolder, Y Afik, C Agapopoulou

Abstract:

Abstract This article documents the muon reconstruction and identification efficiency obtained by the ATLAS experiment for 139 $$\hbox {fb}^{-1}$$ fb-1 of pp collision data at $$\sqrt{s}=13$$ s=13 TeV collected between 2015 and 2018 during Run 2 of the LHC. The increased instantaneous luminosity delivered by the LHC over this period required a reoptimisation of the criteria for the identification of prompt muons. Improved and newly developed algorithms were deployed to preserve high muon identification efficiency with a low misidentification rate and good momentum resolution. The availability of large samples of $$Z\rightarrow \mu \mu $$ Z→μμ and $$J/\psi \rightarrow \mu \mu $$ J/ψ→μμ decays, and the minimisation of systematic uncertainties, allows the efficiencies of criteria for muon identification, primary vertex association, and isolation to be measured with an accuracy at the per-mille level in the bulk of the phase space, and up to the percent level in complex kinematic configurations. Excellent performance is achieved over a range of transverse momenta from 3 GeV to several hundred GeV, and across the full muon detector acceptance of $$|\eta |<2.7$$ |η|<2.7 .

Test of the universality of τ and μ lepton couplings in W-boson decays with the ATLAS detector

Nature Physics Nature Research 17:7 (2021) 813-818

Authors:

G Aad, B Abbott, DC Abbott, A Abed Abud, K Abeling, DK Abhayasinghe, SH Abidi, OS AbouZeid, NL Abraham, H Abramowicz, H Abreu, Y Abulaiti, BS Acharya, B Achkar, L Adam, C Adam Bourdarios, L Adamczyk, L Adamek, J Adelman, M Adersberger, A Adiguzel, S Adorni, T Adye, AA Affolder, Y Afik

Abstract:

Abstract The standard model of particle physics encapsulates our best current understanding of physics at the smallest scales. A fundamental axiom of this theory is the universality of the couplings of the different generations of leptons to the electroweak gauge bosons. The measurement of the ratio of the decay rate of W bosons to τ leptons and muons, R ( τ / μ ), constitutes an important test of this axiom. Using 139 fb −1 of proton–proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, we report a measurement of this quantity from di-leptonic $$t\overline{t}$$ t t ¯ events where the top quarks decay into a W boson and a bottom quark. We can distinguish muons originating from W bosons and those originating from an intermediate τ lepton through the muon transverse impact parameter and differences in the muon transverse momentum spectra. The measured value of R ( τ / μ ) is 0.992 ± 0.013 [± 0.007(stat) ± 0.011(syst)] and is in agreement with the hypothesis of universal lepton couplings as postulated in the standard model. This is the only such measurement from the Large Hadron Collider, so far, and obtains twice the precision of previous measurements.