Optical microvariability and radio quiet QSOS

Abstract

We report the first search for intra-night optical variability in radio quiet, but optically bright and luminous, quasi-stellar objects, using two southern QSOs. Our limited data show no evidence for microvariability. Such observations, when carried out on a more intensive scale and expanded to larger numbers of sources, would provide a means of discriminating among various theoretical mechanisms proposed for the origin of optical intra-night variability in active galactic nuclei.