Summary: THE HOST GALAXIES OF Z ß 2 RADIO­QUIET QSOS
ITZIAR ARETXAGA, B.J. BOYLE AND R.J. TERLEVICH
Royal Greenwich Observatory
Madingley Road. Cambridge CB3 0EZ. UK.
Based on an R­band imaging survey of high­redshift (z ß 2) QSOs with
the 4.2m WHT, we report the detection of extensions to the nuclear PSFs
of two radio­quiet and one radio­loud QSO. The extensions are most likely
host galaxies, with luminosities of at least 3 \Gamma 7% of the QSO luminosity.
The most likely values for the luminosities lie in the range 6 \Gamma 18% of the
QSO luminosity (R ¸ 19:8 \Gamma 20:9 mag). Our observations show that, if
the extensions we have detected are indeed galaxies, extraordinary massive
and luminous galaxies are not only characteristic of radio­loud objects, but
of QSOs as an entire class. For a detailed description of this work, see
Aretxaga, Boyle & Terlevich (1995) MNRAS, 275, L27.
Figure 1: The left panel shows a 50 00
\Theta 50 00
field of one of the radio­quiet QSOs
(1630.5+3749) for which we have found and extension to its nuclear PSF. The right
pannel shows the field after subtracting a 2D PSF profile to both QSO and stars. Note
that the stars are subtracted while the QSO is left with significant residuals (? 3oe).

Source: Aretxaga, Itziar - Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica Óptica y Electrónica

Collections: Physics