Abstract
We present a catalogue and atlas of low-resolution spectra of a well defined sample of 341 objects in the FORS Deep Field. All spectra were obtained with the FORS instruments at the ESO VLT with essentially the same spectroscopic set-up. The observed extragalactic objects cover the redshift range 0. 1t o 5.0. 98 objects are starburst galaxies and QSOs at z > 2. Using this data set we investigated the evolution of the characteristic spectral properties of bright starburst galaxies and their mutual relations as a function of redshift. Significant evolutionary effects were found for redshifts 2 < z < 4. Most conspicuous are the increase of the average C IV absorption strength, of the dust reddening, and of the intrinsic UV luminosity, and the decrease of the average Lyα emission strength with decreasing redshift. In part the observed evolutionary effects can be attributed to an increase of the metallicity of the galaxies with cosmic age. Moreover, the increase of the total star-formation rates and the stronger obscuration of the starburst cores by dusty gas clouds suggest the occurrence of more massive starbursts at later cosmic epochs.
Highlights
The advent of the 10 m-class telescopes has allowed direct access to the early stages of galaxy evolution using spectroscopic methods
We present a catalogue and atlas of low-resolution spectra of a well defined sample of 341 objects in the FORS Deep Field
Part of the first objects were selected from the Hubble Deep Field North (Williams et al 1996; review by Ferguson et al 2000)
Summary
The advent of the 10 m-class telescopes has allowed direct access to the early stages of galaxy evolution using spectroscopic methods. In addition to the two-colour diagram method, which is biased towards objects with high star-formation rates and/or strong intergalactic absorption, deep multi-band photometric surveys resulting in “photometric redshifts” (Connolly et al 1997; Fernandez-Soto et al 1999) have been used to identify high-redshift galaxies In this way, e.g., candidates with 1.5 < z < 2.5 (Savaglio et al 2004; Daddi et al 2004) and. In the present paper we describe a deep spectroscopic survey using high-quality low-resolution spectra of galaxies covering the redshift range 0 < z < 5 This survey allows a detailed analysis of the dependence of basic galaxy properties on cosmic age.
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