Radio WISSH: tuning on the most luminous quasars in the Universe

TL;DR

This paper presents a systematic VLA study of hyper-luminous quasars at high redshift, exploring their radio properties, evolutionary effects, and the relationship between winds, outflows, and orientation in these powerful cosmic sources.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive high-resolution radio survey of WISSH quasars, focusing on their radio source nature, evolution, and wind/outflow characteristics at high redshift.

Findings

Identification of young radio sources among hyper-luminous quasars

Insights into the evolution of radio-loudness at high redshift

Quantification of orientation effects on winds and outflows

Abstract

In the past years, the results obtained by the WISSH quasar project provided a novel general picture on the distinctive multi-band properties of hyper-luminous ($L_{bol}>10^{47}$ erg/s) quasars at high redshift (z$\sim$2-4), unveiling interesting relations among active galactic nuclei, winds and interstellar medium, in these powerful sources at cosmic noon. Since 2022, we are performing a systematic and statistically-significant VLA study of the radio properties of WISSH. We carried out high-resolution VLA observations aiming at: 1) identifying young radio source from the broad-band spectral shape of these objects; 2) sample an unexplored high redshift/high luminosity regime, tracking possible evolutionary effects on the radio-loud/radio-quiet dichotomy; 3) quantifying orientation effects on the observed winds/outflows properties.