We investigate the evolution of a scalar field propagating in small Schwarzschild anti–de Sitter black holes. The imaginary part of the quasinormal frequency decreases with the horizon size and the real part of the quasinormal frequency keeps nearly as a constant. The object picture clarifies the question about the quasinormal modes for small anti–de Sitter black holes. The dependence of the quasinormal modes on spacetime dimensions and the multipole index for small anti–de Sitter black holes is also illustrated.

• Received 19 January 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.63.124004