JHK IMAGING AND PHOTOMETRY OF LOW-Z QSO AND RADIO GALAXY

We describe J,H,K deep imaging of 90 arcmin fields around 4 QSOs and o ne radio galaxy at redshifts in the range 0.06 to 0.30, and show their images, luminosity profiles, and NIR 2-color diagrams of objects, We find that the QSO hosts are all resolved, and compare them with previo us CCD images. The host galaxy colors are consistent with old and youn g stellar populations at the QSO redshift. The colors of nearby galaxi es suggest that all the AGN Live in groups of generally smaller compan ion galaxies, mostly with evolved populations at the same redshift. Th e two radio-loud objects live in richer cluster environments than the others. Gissel population models indicate reddening in the galaxies, s tar-forming regions, and possibly a systematic H-K offset. The QSO lum inosity profiles are complex and reveal some of their tidal disturbanc e and star-formation history. (C) 1997 American Astronomical Society.