SDSS-DR7 optical spectra analysis of radio galaxies

Using 1.4GHz radio luminosities L_1.4_, narrow optical emission line luminosities L_[OIII]_ and L_Halpha_, as well as black hole masses M_BH_ derived from stellar velocity dispersions measured from the optical spectra obtained with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we find that (1) NLRGs cover about four decades of the Eddington ratio, {lambda}{equiv}L_bol_/L_Edd_{prop.to}L_line_/M_BH_; (2) L_1.4_/M_BH_ strongly correlates with {lambda}; and (3) radio loudness, R=L_1.4_/L_Line_, strongly anti-correlates with {lambda}.

A very broad range of the Eddington ratio indicates that the parent population of NLRGs includes both radio-loud quasars (RLQs) and broad-line radio galaxies (BLRGs). The correlations they obey and their high jet production efficiencies favor a jet production model which involves the so-called magnetically choked accretion scenario. In this model, production of the jet is dominated by the Blandford-Znajek mechanism, and the magnetic fields in the vicinity of the central black hole are confined by the ram pressure of the accretion flow.