Giant Radio Quasars: Sample and Basic Properties

Abstract We present the largest sample of giant radio quasars (GRQs), which are defined as having a projected linear size greater than 0.7 Mpc. The sample consists of 272 GRQs, of which 174 are new objects discovered through cross-matching the NRAO Very Large Array Sky Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey 14th Data Release Quasar Catalog (DR14Q) and confirmed using Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters (FIRST) radio maps. In our analysis we compare the GRQs with 367 smaller, lobe-dominated radio quasars found using our search method, as well as with quasars from the SDSS DR14Q, investigating the parameters characterizing their radio emission (i.e., total and core radio luminosity, radio core prominence), optical properties (black hole masses, accretion rates, distribution in Eigenvector 1 plane) and infrared colors. For the GRQs and smaller radio quasars we find a strong correlation between [O III] luminosity and radio luminosity at 1.4 GHz, indicating a strong connection between radio emission and conditions in the narrow-line region. We spot no significant differences between GRQs and smaller radio quasars, however we show that most extended radio quasars belong to a quasar population of evolved active galactic nuclei with large black hole masses and low accretion rates. We also show that GRQs have bluer W2–W3 colors compared to SDSS quasars with FIRST detections, indicating differences in the structure of the dusty torus.