Orientation and accretion in a representative sample of active galactic
  nuclei
  We highlight a representative sample of active galactic nuclei selected
independent of orientation. The defining characteristic of the selection is
sophisticated matching between the $0.1<z<0.6$ Sloan Digital Sky Survey quasars
from the Seventh Data Release to the Westerbork Northern Sky Survey at 325 MHz
and the subsequent application of a total radio luminosity cut. The resulting
sample is complete down to the limiting luminosity and unbiased by orientation.
Compared to orientation samples in the literature this approach yields less
bias with redshift, relatively more lobe-dominated sources including those with
radio lobes and no visible core, and a distribution of radio core dominance
that is consistent with expectations from a uniform distribution of
inclinations with solid angle. We measure properties of the optical spectra,
and use the sample to investigate the orientation dependence of the velocity
width of the broad H$\beta$ emission line. We recover the known orientation
dependence, but the sharp envelope of previous studies where only edge-on
sources display the broadest lines, is absent. Scatter in this diagram is not
attributable solely to black hole mass, Eddington ratio, or contamination in
the sample from compact steep spectrum sources. A physical framework for quasar
beaming and a disk-like broad-line region can describe the representative
sample when it is expanded to include additional parameters, in particular jet
properties and the broad-line region velocity field. These points serve to
illustrate the critical role of sample selection in the interpretation of
observable properties as indicators of physical parameters of quasar central
engines.
