We present the first results from the Quasar Feedback Survey, a sample of 42 z < 0.2, [O iii] luminous AGN (L[O III] > 1042.1 ergs s−1) with moderate radio luminosities (i.e. L1.4GHz > 1023.4 W Hz−1; median L1.4GHz = 5.9 × 1023 W Hz−1). Using high spatial resolution (∼0.3–1 arcsec), 1.5–6 GHz radio images from the Very Large Array, we find that 67 percent of the sample have spatially extended radio features, on ∼1–60 kpc scales. The radio sizes and morphologies suggest that these may be lower radio luminosity versions of compact, radio-loud AGN. By combining the radio-to-infrared excess parameter, spectral index, radio morphology and brightness temperature, we find radio emission in at least 57 percent of the sample that is associated with AGN-related processes (e.g. jets, quasar-driven winds or coronal emission). This is despite only 9.5–21 percent being classified as radio-loud using traditional criteria. The origin of the radio emission in the remainder of the sample is unclear. We find that both the established anti-correlation between radio size and the width of the [O iii] line, and the known trend for the most [O iii] luminous AGN to be associated with spatially-extended radio emission, also hold for our sample of moderate radio luminosity quasars. These observations add to the growing evidence of a connection between the radio emission and ionised gas in quasar host galaxies. This work lays the foundation for deeper investigations into the drivers and impact of feedback in this unique sample.

We present a study of a luminous, z = 0.15, type-2 quasar ($L_{[\rm O III]}$=1042.8 erg s−1) from the Quasar Feedback Survey. It is classified as ‘radio-quiet’ ( L1.4 GHz=1023.8 W Hz−1); however, radio imaging reveals ∼ 1 kpc low-power jets (Pjet= 1044 erg s−1) inclined into the plane of the galaxy disk. We combine MUSE and ALMA observations to map stellar kinematics and ionised and molecular gas properties. The jets are seen to drive galaxy-wide bi-conical turbulent outflows, reaching W80 = 1000 - 1300 km s−1, in the ionised phase (traced via optical emission-lines), which also have increased electron densities compared to the quiescent gas. The turbulent gas is driven perpendicular to the jet axis and is escaping along the galaxy minor axis, reaching 7.5 kpc on both sides. Traced via CO(3–2) emission, the turbulent material in molecular gas phase is one-third as spatially extended and has 3 times lower velocity-dispersion as compared to ionised gas. The jets are seen to be strongly interacting with the interstellar medium (ISM) through enhanced ionised emission and disturbed/depleted molecular gas at the jet termini. We see further evidence for jet-induced feedback through significantly higher stellar velocity-dispersion aligned, and co-spatial with, the jet axis (< 5 ○). We discuss possible negative and positive feedback scenarios arising due to the interaction of the low-power jets with the ISM in the context of recent jet-ISM interaction simulations, which qualitatively agree with our observations. We discuss how jet-induced feedback could be an important feedback mechanism even in bolometrically luminous ‘radio-quiet’ quasars.

We present results from a combined radio polarization and emission line study of five type 2 quasars at z < 0.2 with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) B-array at 5 GHz and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) [O iii] observations. These five sources are known to exhibit close association between radio structures and ionized gas morphology and kinematics. Four sources (J0945+1737, J1000+1242, J1356+1026 and J1430+1339) show polarization in the current data. J1010+1413 is the unpolarized source in our sample. We detect $0.5-1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ fractional polarization in the radio cores and a high fractional polarization ($10-30{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$) in the lobes of these sources. The morphological, spectral and polarization properties suggest a jet origin for radio emission in J0945+1737, J1000+1242, J1010+1413 and J1430+1339 whereas the current data cannot fully discern the origin of radio emission (jet or wind) in J1356+1026. An anti-correlation between various polarized knots in the radio and [O iii] emission is observed in our sources, similar to that observed in some radio-loud AGN in the literature. This suggests that the radio emission is likely to be depolarized by the emission-line gas. By modeling the depolarization effects, we estimate the size of the emission-line gas clouds to be ∼(2.8 ± 1.7) × 10−5 parsec and the amount of thermal material mixed with the synchrotron plasma to be ∼(9.2 ± 0.8) × 105 M⊙ in the lobe of J0945+1737 (which exhibits the most prominent polarization signature in its lobe). The current work demonstrates that the interplay of jets/winds and emission-line gas is most likely responsible for the nature of radio outflows in radio-quiet AGN.