1995/10/08 by I. Aretxaga, Aretxaga, I., B.J. Boyle +5
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9510047
uuencoded compressed postscript. The preprint is also available at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/preprint/PrePrint.html
arxiv created 1995/10/08 · openalex publication_date 1995/10/08 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We have been conducting an imaging survey to detect host galaxies of radio-quiet QSOs at high redshift (z = 2), in order to compare them with those of radio-loud objects. Six QSOs were observed in the R passband with the auxiliary port of the 4.2m WHT of the \it Observatorio de Roque de los Muchachos indir August 1994. The objects were selected to be bright (M(B) < -28~mag) and have bright stars in the field, which could enable us to define the point spread function (PSF) accurately. The excellent seeing of La Palma (<0.9 arcsec thoughout the run) allowed us to detect extensions to the nuclear PSFs around three (one radio-loud and two radio-quiet) QSOs, out of 4 suitable targets. The extensions are most likely due to the host galaxies of these QSOs, with luminosities of at least 3-7% of the QSO luminosity. The most likely values for the luminosity of the host galaxies lie in the range 6-18% of the QSO luminosity. Our observations show that, if the extensions we have detected are indeed galaxies, extraordinary massive and luminous galaxies are not only a characteristic of radio-loud objects, but of QSOs as an entire class.