Published October 10, 2016 | Version v1
Journal article

THE FOURSTAR GALAXY EVOLUTION SURVEY (ZFOURGE): ULTRAVIOLET TO FAR-INFRARED CATALOGS, MEDIUM-BANDWIDTH PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS WITH IMPROVED ACCURACY, STELLAR MASSES, AND CONFIRMATION OF QUIESCENT GALAXIES TO z ∼ 3.5

  • 1. Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden (Netherlands)
  • 2. Australian Astronomical Observatory, P.O. Box 915, North Ryde, NSW 1670 (Australia)
  • 3. George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843 (United States)
  • 4. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University, Hawthorn, VIC 3122 (Australia)
  • 5. Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States)
  • 6. Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
  • 7. Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States)

Description

The FourStar galaxy evolution survey (ZFOURGE) is a 45 night legacy program with the FourStar near-infrared camera on Magellan and one of the most sensitive surveys to date. ZFOURGE covers a total of 400 arcmin2 in cosmic fields CDFS, COSMOS and UDS, overlapping CANDELS. We present photometric catalogs comprising >70,000 galaxies, selected from ultradeep K s -band detection images (25.5–26.5 AB mag, 5 σ , total), and >80% complete to K s < 25.3–25.9 AB. We use 5 near-IR medium-bandwidth filters ( J 1, J 2, J 3, H s , H l ) as well as broad-band K s at 1.05–2.16 μ m to 25–26 AB at a seeing of ∼0.″5. Each field has ancillary imaging in 26–40 filters at 0.3–8 μ m. We derive photometric redshifts and stellar population properties. Comparing with spectroscopic redshifts indicates a photometric redshift uncertainty σ z = 0.010, 0.009, and 0.011 in CDFS, COSMOS, and UDS. As spectroscopic samples are often biased toward bright and blue sources, we also inspect the photometric redshift differences between close pairs of galaxies, finding σ z ,pairs = 0.01–0.02 at 1 < z < 2.5. We quantify how σ z ,pairs depends on redshift, magnitude, spectral energy distribution type, and the inclusion of FourStar medium bands. σ z ,pairs is smallest for bright, blue star-forming samples, while red star-forming galaxies have the worst σ z ,pairs. Including FourStar medium bands reduces σ z ,pairs by 50% at 1.5 < z < 2.5. We calculate star formation rates (SFRs) based on ultraviolet and ultradeep far-IR Spitzer /MIPS and Herschel /PACS data. We derive rest-frame U − V and V − J colors, and illustrate how these correlate with specific SFR and dust emission to z = 3.5. We confirm the existence of quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 3, demonstrating their SFRs are suppressed by > ×15.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/830/1/51

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophysical Journal
Journal Volume
830
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
[34 p.]
ISSN
0004-637X
CODEN
ASJOAB

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
49012942
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Descriptors DEI
CATALOGS; COSMOLOGY; DETECTION; FERMILAB COLLIDER DETECTOR; GALACTIC EVOLUTION; GALAXIES; MAGELLANIC CLOUDS; MASS; RED SHIFT; UNIVERSE
Descriptors DEC
DOCUMENT TYPES; EVOLUTION; GALAXIES; MEASURING INSTRUMENTS; RADIATION DETECTORS