We present near-infrared H -band imaging of 15 intermediate redshift ( 0.5 < z < 1 ) radio quiet quasars ( RQQ ) in order to characterize the properties of their host galaxies .
We are able to clearly detect the surrounding nebulosity in 12 objects , whereas the object remains unresolved in three cases .
For all the resolved objects , we find that the host galaxy is well represented by a de Vaucouleurs r ^ { 1 / 4 } surface brightness law .
This is the first reasonably sized sample of intermediate redshift RQQs studied in the near-infrared .

The RQQ host galaxies are luminous ( average M _ { H } = -26.3 \pm 0.6 ) and large giant elliptical galaxies ( average bulge scale length R _ { e } = 11.3 \pm 5.8 kpc ) .
RQQ hosts are \sim 1 mag brighter than the typical low redshift galaxy luminosity L ^ { * } , and their sizes are similar to those of galaxies hosting lower redshift RQQs , indicating that there is no significant evolution at least up to z \sim 1 of the host galaxy structure .
We also find that RQQ hosts are \sim 0.5 - 1 mag fainter than radio-loud quasars ( RLQ ) hosts at the similar redshift range .
The comparison of the host luminosity of intermediate redshift RQQ hosts with that for lower z sources shows a trend that is consistent with that expected from the passive evolution of the stars in the host galaxies .

The nuclear luminosity and the nucleus/host galaxy luminosity ratio of the objects in our sample are intermediate between those of lower redshift RQQs and those of higher redshift ( z > 1 ) RQQs .