A&A 435, 521–543 (2005) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20042277 & c ESO 2005 Astrophysics Radio sources in low-luminosity active galactic nuclei IV. Radio luminosity function, importance of jet power, and radio properties of the complete Palomar sample N. M. Nagar1,2, H. Falcke3, and A. S. Wilson4 1 Kapteyn Institute, Landleven 12, 9747 AD Groningen, The Netherlands 2 Astronomy Group, Departamento de Física, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile e-mail:
[email protected] 3 ASTRON, PO Box 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo, The Netherlands Department of Astronomy, Radboud University Nijmegen, Postbus 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands e-mail:
[email protected] 4 Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA Adjunct Astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA e-mail:
[email protected] Received 29 October 2004 / Accepted 5 February 2005 Abstract. We present the completed results of a high resolution radio imaging survey of all (∼200) low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs) and AGNs in the Palomar Spectroscopic Sample of all (∼488) bright northern galaxies. The high incidences of pc-scale radio nuclei, with implied brightness temperatures ∼>107 K, and sub-parsec jets argue for accreting black holes in ∼>50% of all LINERs and low-luminosity Seyferts; there is no evidence against all LLAGNs being mini-AGNs. The detected parsec-scale radio nuclei are preferentially found in massive ellipticals and in type 1 nuclei (i.e. nuclei with broad Hα emission). The radio luminosity function (RLF) of Palomar Sample LLAGNs and AGNs extends three orders of magnitude below, and is continuous with, that of “classical” AGNs.