Deep WFPC2 and Ground-Based Imaging of a Complete Sample of 3C Quasars and Galaxies.

We present the results of an HST and ground-based imaging study of a complete3C sample of z ~ 1 sources, including 5 quasars and 5 radio galaxies. We haveresolved continuum structure around all of our quasars in the WFPC2 images andin four of the five ground-based K' images. All of the quasars have someoptical continuum structure that is aligned with the radio axis. In 3 of thesecases, some of this optical structure is most likely due to optical synchrotronradiation, including optical counterparts to two radio jets and one radio lobe.Two quasars have aligned continuum and emission-line structures that areprobably not due to beamed optical synchrotron emission. In another quasar, wesee a red aligned object that lies 3 arcsec beyond the radio lobe, and may bean unassociated foreground galaxy, but has a remarkable morphologicalresemblance to the radio lobe itself. The radio galaxies and the quasars inthis small sample have similar incidence of alignment, and the optical and K'flux densities are consistent within the high dispersion. The average quasarhost galaxy luminosity is equivalent to, or a little fainter than, L*. Allcomponents around the quasars have optical-infrared colors that are redder thanor similar to the colors of their respective nuclei; this is generally moreconsistent with a stellar rather than scattered origin for the emission. Thisstudy provides qualitative support for the unification of FRII quasars andgalaxies.Comment: 69 pages, LaTeX (aaspp4.sty); 10 tables (aj_pt4.sty); 22 figures; accepted to A.J., August 199