Abstract
The aim of this paper is to introduce the WIRCam Ultra Deep Survey (WUDS), a near-IR photometric survey carried out at the CFH Telescope in the field of the CFHTLS-D3 field (Groth Strip). WUDS includes four near-IR bands (Y, J, H and Ks) over a field of view of ∼400 arcmin2. The typical depth of WUDS data reaches between ∼26.8 in Y and J, and ∼26 in H and Ks (AB, 3σ in 1.3″ aperture), whereas the corresponding depth of the CFHTLS-D3 images in this region ranges between 28.6 and 29 in ugr, 28.2 in i and 27.1 in z (same S/N and aperture). The area and depth of this survey were specifically tailored to set strong constraints on the cosmic star formation rate and the luminosity function brighter or around L⋆ in the z ∼ 6 − 10 redshift domain, although these data are also useful for a variety of extragalactic projects. This first paper is intended to present the properties of the public WUDS survey in details: catalog building, completeness and depth, number counts, photometric redshifts, and global properties of the galaxy population. We have also concentrated on the selection and characterization of galaxy samples at z ∼ [4.5 − 7] in this field. For these purposes, we include an adjacent shallower area of ∼1260 arcmin2 in this region, extracted from the WIRCam Deep Survey (WIRDS), and observed in J, H and Ks bands. UV luminosity functions were derived at z ∼ 5 and z ∼ 6 taking advantage from the fact that WUDS covers a particularly interesting regime at intermediate luminosities, which allows a combined determination of M⋆ and Φ⋆ with increased accuracy. Our results on the luminosity function are consistent with a small evolution of both M⋆ and Φ⋆ between z = 5 and z = 6, irrespective of the method used to derive them, either photometric redshifts applied to blindly-selected dropout samples or the classical Lyman Break Galaxy color-preselected samples. Our results lend support to higher Φ⋆ determinations at z = 6 than usually reported. The selection and combined analysis of different galaxy samples at z ≥ 7 will be presented in a forthcoming paper, as well as the evolution of the UV luminosity function between z ∼ 4.5 and 9. WUDS is intended to provide a robust database in the near-IR for the selection of targets for detailed spectroscopic studies, in particular for the EMIR/GTC GOYA Survey.
Highlights
This paper introduces the WIRCam Ultra Deep Survey (WUDS), a public near-IR photometric survey carried out at the CFH Telescope in the field of the CFHTLS-D3 field (Groth Strip)
At z ∼ 6, the difference between the two approaches is negligible for the brightest region, that is smaller than ∼30% up to magnitudes in the UV at ∼1500 Å (M1500) ≤ −21.5, whereas at lower luminosities the photometric redshift approach yields ∆log Φ ∼ 0.3 higher in average. When quadratically combining these differences with the current error bars, as if they were the expression of a systematic error, we find that the fit results for the luminosity function (LF) are very slightly modified (e.g., ∼0.01 for the slope when it is let free, ∼0.02 for M1500, and a negligible amount for the normalization, the error bars on these parameters increasing by only ∼10%)
In this paper we have introduced and characterized the WIRCam Ultra Deep Survey (WUDS), a 4-band near-IR photometric survey covering ∼400 arcmin2 on the CFHTLS-D3 field (Groth Strip)
Summary
This paper introduces the WIRCam Ultra Deep Survey (WUDS), a public near-IR photometric survey carried out at the CFH Telescope in the field of the CFHTLS-D3 field (Groth Strip). A copy of the data products is available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http: //cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/620/A51 strong constraints on the cosmic star-formation rate (SFR) and the UV luminosity function (hereafter LF) around or brighter than L in the z ∼ 6−10 redshift domain, taking advantage from the large field of view and sensitivity of WIRCam. Determining the precise contribution of star-forming sources at z ≥ 6 to the cosmic reionization remains an important challenge for modern cosmology. Determining the precise contribution of star-forming sources at z ≥ 6 to the cosmic reionization remains an important challenge for modern cosmology The study of their physical properties, starting with the spectroscopic confirmation of current photometric candidates, requires the use of the most efficient ground-based and space facilities presently available and, in practice, this. The motivation of WUDS is clearly focused on the high-z universe, these data are useful for a variety of extragalactic projects
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