Eccentricity of wide binaries is difficult to measure due to their long orbital periods. With Gaia’s high-precision astrometric measurements, eccentricity of a wide binary can be constrained by the angle between the separation vector and the relative velocity vector (the v-r angle). In this paper, by using the v-r angles of wide binaries in Gaia Early Data Release 3, we develop a Bayesian approach to measure the eccentricity distribution as a function of binary separations. Furthermore, we infer the eccentricities of individual wide binaries and make them publicly available. Our results show that the eccentricity distribution of wide binaries at 102 AU is close to uniform and becomes superthermal at >103 AU, suggesting two formation mechanisms dominating at different separation regimes. The close binary formation, most likely disc fragmentation, results in a uniform eccentricity distribution at <102 AU. The wide binary formation that leads to highly eccentric wide binaries at >103 AU may be turbulent fragmentation and/or the dynamical unfolding of compact triples. With Gaia, measuring eccentricities is now possible for a large number of wide binaries, opening a new window to understanding binary formation and evolution.

Most active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are radio-quiet, and the origin of their radio emission is not wellunderstood. One hypothesis is that this radio emission is a by-product of quasar-driven winds. In this paper, we present the radio properties of 108 extremely red quasars (ERQs) at z = 2 − 4. ERQs are among the most luminous quasars (L bol ∼ 10 47−48 erg s −1 ) in the Universe, with signatures of extreme ( 1000 km s −1 ) outflows in their [O III]λ5007Å emission, making them the best subjects to seek the connection between radio and outflow activity. All ERQs but one are unresolved in the radio on ∼ 10 kpc scales, and the median radio luminosity of ERQs is νL ν [6 GHz] = 10 41.0 erg s −1 , in the radio-quiet regime, but one to two orders of magnitude higher than that of other quasar samples. The radio spectra are steep, with a mean spectral index α = −1.0. In addition, ERQs neatly follow the extrapolation of the low-redshift correlation between radio luminosity and the velocity dispersion of [O III]-emitting ionized gas. Uncollimated winds, with a power of one per cent of the bolometric luminosity, can account for all these observations. Such winds would interact with and shock the gas around the quasar and in the host galaxy, resulting in acceleration of relativistic particles and the consequent synchrotron emission observed in the radio. Our observations support the picture in which ERQs are signposts of extremely powerful episodes of quasar feedback, and quasar-driven winds as a contributor of the radio emission in the intermediate regime of radio luminosity νL ν = 10 39 − 10 42 erg s −1 .

The metallicity dependence of the wide-binary fraction (WBF) IN stellar populations plays a critical role in resolving the open question of wide-binary formation. In this paper, we investigate the metallicity ([Fe/H]) and age dependence of the WBF (binary separations between 103 and 104 au) for field F and G dwarfs within 500 pc by combining their metallicity and radial velocity measurements from LAMOST Data Release 5 (DR5) with the astrometric information from Gaia DR2. We show that the WBF strongly depends on the metallicity: as metallicity increases, the WBF first increases, peaks at [Fe/H] ≃ 0, and then decreases at the high-metallicity end. The WBF at [Fe/H] = 0 is about two times larger than that at [Fe/H] = −1 and +0.5. This metallicity dependence is dominated by the thin-disc stars. Using stellar kinematics as a proxy of stellar age, we show that younger stars have a higher WBF at fixed metallicity close to solar. We propose that multiple formation channels are responsible for the metallicity and age dependence. In particular, the positive metallicity correlation at [Fe/H] < 0 and the age dependence may be due to the denser formation environments and higher mass clusters at earlier times. The negative metallicity correlation at [Fe/H] > 0 can be inherited from the similar metallicity dependence of close binaries, and radial migration may play a role in enhancing the WBF around the solar metallicity.