The AGN Paradigm for Radio-Loud Objects

Radio-loud AGN are characterized by relativistic jets originating near the central supermassive black hole and forming large-scale radio sources at parsec to kiloparsec to Megaparsec distances. The jets are energetically significant, in many cases representing the bulk of the energy extracted from the accretion process. Host galaxies are apparently normal luminous ellipticals, supporting the "Grand Unification" scenario wherein AGN are a transient phase in the evolution of every galaxy. Black hole mass appears to be largely uncorrelated with bolometric luminosity, Eddington ratio, radio luminosity, or radio loudness.