SDSS-RM project: z<1 QSO host galaxies

We present a study of 191 broad-line quasars and their host galaxies at z<1 using high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) spectra produced by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping project. Clear detection of stellar absorption lines allows a reliable decomposition of the observed spectra into nuclear and host components, using spectral models of quasar and stellar radiations as well as emission lines from the interstellar medium.

We estimate age, mass M*, and velocity dispersion {sigma}* of the host stars, the star formation rate (SFR), quasar luminosity, and SMBH mass M_{dot}_ for each object. The quasars are preferentially hosted by massive galaxies with M*~10^11^M_{sun}_ characterized by stellar ages around 1 billion yr, which coincides with the transition phase of normal galaxies from the blue cloud to the red sequence. The host galaxies have relatively low SFRs and fall below the main sequence of star-forming galaxies at similar redshifts.