Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/95268

Title

Deep keck u-band imaging of the hubble ultra deep field: a catalog of z ~ 3 Lyman break galaxies

Author(s)

Rafelski, Marc;  Wolfe, Arthur M.;  Cooke, Jeff;  Chen, Hsiao-Wen;  Armandroff, Taft E.;  Wirth, Gregory D.

Abstract

We present a sample of 407 z ~ 3 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) to a limiting isophotal u-band magnitude of 27.6 mag in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The LBGs are selected using a combination of photometric redshifts and the u-band drop-out technique enabled by the introduction of an extremely deep u-band image obtained with the Keck I telescope and the blue channel of the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer. The Keck u-band image, totaling 9 hr of integration time, has a 1σ depth of 30.7 mag arcsec-2, making it one of the most sensitive u-band images ever obtained. The u-band image also substantially improves the accuracy of photometric redshift measurements of ~50% of the z ~ 3 LBGs, significantly reducing the traditional degeneracy of colors between z ~ 3 and z ~ 0.2 galaxies. This sample provides the most sensitive, high-resolution multi-filter imaging of reliably identified z 3 LBGs for morphological studies of galaxy formation and evolution and the star formation efficiency of gas at high redshift.

Publication type

Journal article

Source

Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 703, no. 2 (Oct 2009), pp. 2033-2050

Publication year

2009

FOR Code(s)

0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences

Keyword(s)

Absorption lines;  Cosmology;  Galaxy evolution;  Galaxy photometry;  High redshift galaxies;  Quasars

Publisher

Institute of Physics Publishing

ISSN

0004-637X

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/703/2/2033

Copyright

Copyright © 2009 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. The American Astronomical Society does not allow institutions to archive either the accepted manuscript or the published version of the article. However, you can find an earlier version of the full text here: http://arxiv.org/abs/0908.0343.

Peer reviewed