Colors and magnitudes of quasar host galaxies at high redshift

Abstract

We discuss the results so far of a program to image in the rest-frame optical and near-UV the host galaxies of a sample of 5 high redshift (z ~ 2–3) radio-quiet quasars with nuclear luminosities lower than most samples studied at high z. We found that in the rest-frame optical the hosts have luminosities of about L*, comparable to the Lyman break galaxies at similar redshifts. From the rest-frame UV imaging, we can derive optical–UV colors, and find they show a great deal of variation, but may be somewhat redder and less starforming than the LBGs. We are supplementing this work at high z with study of the hosts of z ~ 1 radio-quiet quasars with similar low nuclear luminosities.

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