The cosmological evolution of quasar host galaxies

Mathematics – Logic

Scientific paper

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Hst Proposal Id #7447 Agn/Quasars

Scientific paper

The HST has contributed and will continue to contribute towards advancing our understanding of the host galaxies of low-redshift quasars. However, it is with the advent of NICMOS that the full potential of HST should be realized, making it possible to tackle the previously intractable problem of the cosmological evolution of quasar hosts. Here we propose to build on our Cycle 6 WFPC2 observations of quasar hosts at z ~eq 0.2 and to mount an extensive WFPC2+NICMOS imaging investigation of the cosmological evolution of the hosts of both radio-quiet and radio-loud quasars from z ~eq 2 to the present day. This will be the first such study ever undertaken with a realistic prospect of success. By careful choice of filters, and careful quasar sample selection we have ensured that i} we will sample the same spectral region at all redshifts ii} our images will consist purely of starlight, uncontaminated by emission lines, and iii} our results will not be biased by quasar luminosity correlating with redshift. This definitive study will thus, for the first time, allow us to determine the cosmological evolution of the luminosity, scalelength, and degree of morphological disturbance in quasar hosts. As we explain, such information holds the key to solving several key questions about quasar activity, in particular the physical origin of the dramatic evolution of the quasar luminosity function.

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