  The initial results of a millimeter (CO) survey of infrared-excess,
optically-selected quasars from the Palomar-Green (PG) Bright Quasar Survey
(BQS) with redshifts in the range 0.04 < z < 0.17 are presented. These
observations represent the first step towards establishing with a complete
sample whether or not quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) reside in molecular gas-rich
galaxies, as well as towards determining how the infrared and molecular gas
properties of QSOs compare with those of ultraluminous infrared galaxies
(ULIGs), which are a possible evolutionary precursor of QSOs. The sample
consists of QSOs having absolute blue magnitudes, M_B <~ -22.0, and infrared
excesses, L_IR (8-1000 um) /L_bbb (0.1-1.0 um) >0.36, where the contribution to
the bolometric luminosity of infrared thermal dust emission for all PG QSOs is
typically 20--40%. Six out of 10 of the QSOs observed are detected in the
CO(1-0) emission line; two detections confirm previous, less sensitive
detections of CO(1-0) in PG 1613+658 and PG 0838+770, and four additional QSOs
are detected for the first time (PG 1119+120, PG 1351+640, PG 1415+451, and PG
1440+356). These six detections, plus two previous detections of CO in IZw1 and
Mrk 1014, bring the total number of 0.04 < z < 0.17 infrared-excess PG QSOs
detected in CO to date to eight, and provide possible evidence that, in
addition to fueling star formation, molecular gas may also serve as a primary
source of fuel for QSO activity...
