Spectroscopy of extended emission-line gas around quasars at 0.5 < Z < 1

We present long-slit optical spectroscopy for a sample of eight steep-spectrum radio quasars with a range of redshifts from 0.37 to 0.87. All of these quasars display extended oxygen line-emission when corrected for contamination by light spilled over from the nucleus. The pressure of the gas in the extended emission-line regions is determined by comparing the observed [OIII]γ5007/[OII]γ3727 intensity ratio with that expected from gas at the observed projected radius photo-ionized by the active nucleus. The pressures are found to be consistent with those of the hot intracluster gas found in groups and clusters of galaxies at the present epoch. (author)