Host galaxies of luminous type 2 quasars AT z 0.5

We present deep Gemini GMOS optical spectroscopy of nine luminous quasars at redshifts z 0.5, drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey type 2 quasar sample. Our targets were selected to have high intrinsic luminosities (M _V < -26 mag) as indicated by the [O III] λ5007 emission-line luminosity (L _{[O III]}). Our sample has a median black hole mass of 10^8.8 M _⊙ inferred assuming the local M _BH-σ_* relation and a median Eddington ratio of 0.7, using stellar velocity dispersions σ_* measured from the G band. We estimate the contamination of the stellar continuum from scattered quasar light based on the strength of broad Hβ, and provide an empirical calibration of the contamination as a function of L _{[O III]}; the scattered-light fraction is 30% of L ₅₁₀₀ for objects with L _{[O III]} = 10^9.5 L _⊙. Population synthesis indicates that young poststarburst populations (<0.1 Gyr) are prevalent in luminous type 2 quasars, in addition to a relatively old population (>1 Gyr) which dominates the stellar mass. Broad emission complexes around He II λ4686 with luminosities up to 10^8.3 L _⊙ are unambiguously detected in three out of the nine targets, indicative of Wolf-Rayet (WR) populations. Population synthesis shows that 5 Myr poststarburst populations contribute substantially to the luminosities (>50% of L ₅₁₀₀) of all three objects with WR detections. We find two objects with double cores and four with close companions. Our results may suggest that luminous type 2 quasars trace an early stage of galaxy interaction, perhaps responsible for both the quasar and the starburst activity.