Multi-wavelength Catalog Research Articles

The ASTRODEEP-GS43 catalogue: New photometry and redshifts for the CANDELS GOODS-South field

Context. We present ASTRODEEP-GS43, a new multi-wavelength photometric catalogue of the GOODS-South field, which builds and improves upon the previously released CANDELS catalogue. Aims. We provide photometric fluxes and corresponding uncertainties in 43 optical and infrared bands (25 wide and 18 medium filters), as well as the photometric redshifts and physical properties of the 34930 CANDELS H-detected objects, plus an additional sample of 178 H-dropout sources, of which 173 are Ks-detected and five are IRAC-detected. Methods. We keep the CANDELS photometry in seven bands (CTIO U, Hubble Space Telescope WFC3, and ISAAC-K) and measure from scratch the fluxes in the other 36 (23 from Subaru SuprimeCAM and Magellan Baade FourStar and the rest from VIMOS, HST ACS, HAWK-I Ks, and Spitzer IRAC) with state-of-the-art template-fitting techniques. We then compute new photometric redshifts with three different software tools and take the median value as a best estimate. We finally evaluate new physical parameters from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting, comparing them to previously published ones. Results. Comparing to a sample of 3931 high quality spectroscopic redshifts, for the new photometric redshifts we obtain a normalised median absolute deviation of 0.015, with 3.01% of outliers on the full catalogue (0.011 and 0.22% on the bright end at I814 < 22.5). This is similar to the best available published samples of photometric redshifts, such as the COSMOS UltraVISTA catalogue. Conclusions. The ASTRODEEP-GS43 results are in qualitative agreement with previously published catalogues of the GOODS-South field, improving on them particularly in terms of SED sampling and photometric redshift estimates. The catalogue is available for download from the ASTRODEEP website.

Revisiting the Color–Color Selection: Submillimeter and AGN Properties of NUV–r–J Selected Quiescent Galaxies

Abstract We examine the robustness of the color–color selection of quiescent galaxies (QGs) against contamination of dusty star-forming galaxies using the latest submillimeter data. We selected 18,304 QG candidates out to z ∼ 3 using the commonly adopted NUV–r–J selection based on the high-quality multiwavelength COSMOS2015 catalog. Using extremely deep 450 and 850 μm catalogs from the latest JCMT SCUBA-2 Large Programs, S2COSMOS and STUDIES, as well as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array submillimeter, VLA 3 GHz, and Spitzer MIPS 24 μm catalogs, we identified luminous, dusty, star-forming galaxies among the QG candidates. We also conducted stacking analyses in the SCUBA-2 450 and 850 μm images to look for less-luminous dusty galaxies among the QG candidates. By cross matching to the 24 μm and 3 GHz data, we were able to identify a subgroup of “IR-radio-bright” QGs that possess strong 450 and 850 μm stacking signals. The potential contamination of these luminous and less-luminous dusty galaxies accounts for approximately 10% of the color-selected QG candidates. In addition, there exists a spatial correlation between the luminous star-forming galaxies and the QGs at a ≲60 kpc scale. Finally, we found a high QG fraction among radio active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z < 1.5. Our data show a strong correlation between QGs and radio AGNs, which may suggest a connection between the quenching process and the radio-mode AGN feedback.

The Binary INformation from Open Clusters Using SEDs (BINOCS) Project: Reliable Photometric Mass Determinations of Binary Star Systems in Clusters

Abstract We introduce a new binary detection technique, Binary INformation from Open Clusters using SEDs (binocs), which we show is able to determine reliable stellar multiplicity and masses over a much larger mass range than current approaches. This new technique determines accurate component masses of binary and single systems of the open clusters’ main sequence by comparing observed magnitudes from multiple photometric filters to synthetic star spectral energy distributions (SEDs), allowing us to systematically probe the binary population for low-mass stars in clusters for eight well-studied open clusters. We provide new deep, infrared photometric catalogs (1.2–8.0 μm) for the key open clusters NGC 1960 (M36), NGC 2099 (M37), NGC 2420, and NGC 2682 (M67), using observations from NOAO/NEWFIRM and Spitzer/IRAC. Using these deep multiwavelength catalogs, the binocs method is applied to these clusters to determine accurate component masses for unresolved cluster binaries. We explore binary fractions as a function of cluster age, Galactic location, and metallicity.

Evolved massive stars at low-metallicity

We present a clean, magnitude-limited (IRAC1 or WISE1 ≤ 15.0 mag) multiwavelength source catalog for the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The catalog was built by crossmatching (1″) and deblending (3″) between the source list of Spitzer Enhanced Imaging Products and Gaia Data Release 2, with strict constraints on the Gaia astrometric solution in order to remove the foreground contamination. It is estimated that about 99.5% of the targets in our catalog are most likely genuine members of the LMC. The catalog contains 197 004 targets in 52 different bands, including two ultraviolet, 21 optical, and 29 infrared bands. Additional information about radial velocities and spectral and photometric classifications were collected from the literature. We compare our sample with the sample from Gaia Collaboration (2018, A&A, 616, A12), indicating that the bright end of our sample is mostly comprised of blue helium-burning stars (BHeBs) and red HeBs with inevitable contamination of main sequence stars at the blue end. After applying modified magnitude and color cuts based on previous studies, we identified and ranked 2974 red supergiant, 508 yellow supergiant, and 4786 blue supergiant candidates in the LMC in six color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs). The comparison between the CMDs from the two catalogs of the LMC and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) indicates that the most distinct difference appears at the bright red end of the optical and near-infrared CMDs, where the cool evolved stars (e.g., red supergiant stars (RSGs), asymptotic giant branch stars, and red giant stars) are located, which is likely due to the effect of metallicity and star formation history. A further quantitative comparison of colors of massive star candidates in equal absolute magnitude bins suggests that there is essentially no difference for the BSG candidates, but a large discrepancy for the RSG candidates since LMC targets are redder than the SMC ones, which may be due to the combined effect of metallicity on both spectral type and mass-loss rate as well as the age effect. The effective temperatures (Teff) of massive star populations are also derived from reddening-free color of (J − KS)0. The Teff ranges are 3500 < Teff < 5000 K for an RSG population, 5000 < Teff < 8000 K for a YSG population, and Teff > 8000 K for a BSG population, with larger uncertainties toward the hotter stars.

The XXL Survey

We study the space density evolution of active galactic nuclei (AGN) using the 610 MHz radio survey of the XXL-North field, performed with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope. The survey covers an area of 30.4 deg2, with a beamsize of 6.5 arcsec. The survey is divided into two parts, one covering an area of 11.9 deg2 with 1σ rms noise of 200 μJy beam−1 and the other spanning 18.5 deg2 with rms noise of 45 μJy beam−1. We extracted the catalog of radio components above 7σ. The catalog was cross-matched with a multi-wavelength catalog of the XXL-North field (covering about 80% of the radio XXL-North field) using a likelihood ratio method, which determines the counterparts based on their positions and their optical properties. The multi-component sources were matched visually with the aid of a computer code: Multi-Catalog Visual Cross-Matching. A flux density cut above 1 mJy selects AGN hosts with a high purity in terms of star formation contamination based on the available source counts. After cross-matching and elimination of observational biases arising from survey incompletenesses, the number of remaining sources was 1150. We constructed the rest-frame 1.4 GHz radio luminosity functions of these sources using the maximum volume method. This survey allows us to probe luminosities of 23 ≲ log(L1.4 GHz[W Hz−1]) ≲ 28 up to redshifts of z ≈ 2.1. Our results are consistent with the results from the literature in which AGN are comprised of two differently evolving populations, where the high luminosity end of the luminosity functions evolves more strongly than the low-luminosity end.

Unsupervised star, galaxy, QSO classification

Context. Classification will be an important first step for upcoming surveys aimed at detecting billions of new sources, such as LSST and Euclid, as well as DESI, 4MOST, and MOONS. The application of traditional methods of model fitting and colour-colour selections will face significant computational constraints, while machine-learning methods offer a viable approach to tackle datasets of that volume. Aims. While supervised learning methods can prove very useful for classification tasks, the creation of representative and accurate training sets is a task that consumes a great deal of resources and time. We present a viable alternative using an unsupervised machine learning method to separate stars, galaxies and QSOs using photometric data. Methods. The heart of our work uses Hierarchical Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (HDBSCAN) to find the star, galaxy, and QSO clusters in a multidimensional colour space. We optimized the hyperparameters and input attributes of three separate HDBSCAN runs, each to select a particular object class and, thus, treat the output of each separate run as a binary classifier. We subsequently consolidated the output to give our final classifications, optimized on the basis of their F1 scores. We explored the use of Random Forest and PCA as part of the pre-processing stage for feature selection and dimensionality reduction. Results. Using our dataset of ∼50 000 spectroscopically labelled objects we obtain F1 scores of 98.9, 98.9, and 93.13 respectively for star, galaxy, and QSO selection using our unsupervised learning method. We find that careful attribute selection is a vital part of accurate classification with HDBSCAN. We applied our classification to a subset of the SDSS spectroscopic catalogue and demonstrated the potential of our approach in correcting misclassified spectra useful for DESI and 4MOST. Finally, we created a multiwavelength catalogue of 2.7 million sources using the KiDS, VIKING, and ALLWISE surveys and published corresponding classifications and photometric redshifts.

UV bright red-sequence galaxies: how do UV upturn systems evolve in redshift and stellar mass?

ABSTRACT The so-called ultraviolet (UV) upturn of elliptical galaxies is a phenomenon characterized by the up-rise of their fluxes in bluer wavelengths, typically in the 1200–2500 Å range. This work aims at estimating the rate of occurrence of the UV upturn over the entire red-sequence population of galaxies that show significant UV emission. This assessment is made considering it as function of three parameters: redshift, stellar mass, and – what may seem counter-intuitive at first – emission-line classification. We built a multiwavelength spectrophotometric catalogue from the Galaxy Mass Assembly survey, together with aperture-matched data from Galaxy Evolution Explorer Medium-Depth Imaging Survey (MIS) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey, covering the redshift range between 0.06 and 0.40. From this sample, we analyse the UV emission among UV bright galaxies, by selecting those that occupy the red-sequence locus in the (NUV− r) × (FUV−NUV) chart; then, we stratify the sample by their emission-line classes. To that end, we make use of emission-line diagnostic diagrams, focusing the analysis in retired/passive lineless galaxies. Then, a Bayesian logistic model was built to simultaneously deal with the effects of all galaxy properties (including emission-line classification or lack thereof). The main results show that retired/passive systems host an up-rise in the fraction of UV upturn for redshifts between 0.06 and 0.25, followed by an in-fall up to 0.35. Additionally, we show that the fraction of UV upturn hosts rises with increasing stellar mass.

HELP project - a dreamed-of multiwavelength dataset for SED fitting: The influence of used models for the main physical properties of galaxies

AbstractThe Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project (HELP) focuses to publish an astronomical multiwavelength catalogue of millions of objects over 1300 deg2of the Herschel Space Observatory survey fields. Millions of galaxies with ultraviolet–far infrared photometry make HELP a perfect sample for testing spectral energy distribution fitting models, and to prepare tools for next-generation data. In the frame of HELP collaboration we estimated the main physical properties of all galaxies from the HELP database and we checked a new procedure to select peculiar galaxies from large galaxy sample and we investigated the influence of used modules for stellar mass estimation.

The OTELO survey

Aims. We take advantage of the capability of the OTELO survey to obtain the Hα luminosity function (LF) at z ∼ 0.40. Because of the deepest coverage of OTELO, we are able to determine the faint end of the LF, and thus better constrain the star formation rate and the number of galaxies at low luminosities. The AGN contribution to this LF is estimated as well. Methods. We make use of the multiwavelength catalogue of objects in the field compiled by the OTELO survey, which is unique in terms of minimum flux and equivalent width. We also take advantage of the pseudo-spectra built for each source, which allow the identification of emission lines and the discrimination of different types of objects. Results. The Hα luminosity function at z ∼ 0.40 is obtained, which extends the current faint end by almost 1 dex, reaching minimal luminosities of log10Llim = 38.5 erg s−1 (or ∼0.002 M⊙ yr−1). The AGN contribution to the total Hα luminosity is estimated. We find that no AGN should be expected below a luminosity of log10L = 38.6 erg s−1. From the sample of non-AGN (presumably, pure SFG) at z ∼ 0.40 we estimated a star formation rate density of ρSFR = 0.012 ± 0.005 M⊙ yr−1 Mpc−3.

The OTELO survey

Aims. We take advantage of the capabilities of the OSIRIS Tunable Emission Line Object (OTELO) survey to select and study the AGN population in the field. In particular, we aim to perform an analysis of the properties of these objects, including their demography, morphology, and IR luminosity. Focusing on the population of Hα emitters at z ∼ 0.4, we also aim to study the environments of AGN and non-AGN galaxies at that redshift. methods. We make use of the multiwavelength catalogue of objects in the field compiled by the OTELO survey, unique in terms of minimum flux and equivalent width. We also take advantage of the pseudo-spectra built for each source, which allow the identification of emission lines and the discrimination of different types of objects. Results. We obtained a sample of 72 AGNs in the field of OTELO, selected with four different methods in the optical, X-rays, and mid-infrared bands. We find that using X-rays is the most efficient way to select AGNs. An analysis was performed on the AGN population of OTELO in order to characterise its members. At z ∼ 0.4, we find that up to 26% of our Hα emitters are AGNs. At that redshift, AGNs are found in identical environments to non-AGNs, although they represent the most clustered group when compared to passive and star-forming galaxies. The majority of our AGNs at any redshift were classified as late-type galaxies, including a 16% proportion of irregulars. Another 16% of AGNs show signs of interactions or mergers. Regarding the infrared luminosity, we are able to recover all the luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) in the field of OTELO up to z ∼ 1.6. We find that the proportion of LIRGs and ultra-luminous infraed galaxies (ULIRGs) is higher among the AGN population, and that ULIRGs show a higher fraction of AGNs than LIRGs.

The OTELO survey

Context. The evolution of galaxies through cosmic time is studied observationally by means of extragalactic surveys. The usefulness of these surveys is greatly improved by increasing the cosmological volume, in either depth or area, and by observing the same targets in different wavelength ranges. A multi-wavelength approach using different observational techniques can compensate for observational biases. Aims. The OTELO survey aims to provide the deepest narrow-band survey to date in terms of minimum detectable flux and emission line equivalent width in order to detect the faintest extragalactic emission line systems. In this way, OTELO data will complements other broad-band, narrow-band, and spectroscopic surveys. Methods. The red tunable filter of the OSIRIS instrument on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) is used to scan a spectral window centred at 9175 Å, which is free from strong sky emission lines, with a sampling interval of 6 Å and a bandwidth of 12 Å in the most deeply explored EGS region. Careful data reduction using improved techniques for sky ring subtraction, accurate astrometry, photometric calibration, and source extraction enables us to compile the OTELO catalogue. This catalogue is complemented with ancillary data ranging from deep X-ray to far-infrared, including high resolution HST images, which allow us to segregate the different types of targets, derive precise photometric redshifts, and obtain the morphological classification of the extragalactic objects detected. Results. The OTELO multi-wavelength catalogue contains 11 237 entries and is 50% complete at AB magnitude 26.38. Of these sources, 6600 have photometric redshifts with an uncertainty δ zphot better than 0.2 (1+zphot). A total of 4336 of these sources correspond to preliminary emission line candidates, which are complemented by 81 candidate stars and 483 sources that qualify as absorption line systems. The OTELO survey results will be released to the public on the second half of 2019.

Evolved massive stars at low-metallicity

We present a clean, magnitude-limited (IRAC1 or WISE1 ≤ 15.0 mag) multiwavelength source catalog for the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) with 45 466 targets in total, with the purpose of building an anchor for future studies, especially for the massive star populations at low-metallicity. The catalog contains data in 50 different bands including 21 optical and 29 infrared bands, retrieved from SEIP, VMC, IRSF, AKARI, HERITAGE, Gaia, SkyMapper, NSC, Massey (2002, ApJS, 141, 81), and GALEX, ranging from the ultraviolet to the far-infrared. Additionally, radial velocities and spectral classifications were collected from the literature, and infrared and optical variability statistics were retrieved from WISE, SAGE-Var, VMC, IRSF, Gaia, NSC, and OGLE. The catalog was essentially built upon a 1″ crossmatching and a 3″ deblending between the Spitzer Enhanced Imaging Products (SEIP) source list and Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) photometric data. Further constraints on the proper motions and parallaxes from Gaia DR2 allowed us to remove the foreground contamination. We estimate that about 99.5% of the targets in our catalog are most likely genuine members of the SMC. Using the evolutionary tracks and synthetic photometry from MESA Isochrones & Stellar Tracks and the theoretical J − KS color cuts, we identified 1405 red supergiant (RSG), 217 yellow supergiant, and 1369 blue supergiant candidates in the SMC in five different color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs), where attention should also be paid to the incompleteness of our sample. We ranked the candidates based on the intersection of different CMDs. A comparison between the models and observational data shows that the lower limit of initial mass for the RSG population may be as low as 7 or even 6 M⊙ and that the RSG is well separated from the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) population even at faint magnitude, making RSGs a unique population connecting the evolved massive and intermediate stars, since stars with initial mass around 6 to 8 M⊙ are thought to go through a second dredge-up to become AGB stars. We encourage the interested reader to further exploit the potential of our catalog.

Optically variable AGN in the three-year VST survey of the COSMOS field

Context. The analysis of the variability of active galactic nuclei (AGN) at different wavelengths and the study of possible correlations of different spectral windows are a current main field of inquiry. Optical variability has been largely used to identify AGN in multivisit surveys. The strength of a selection based on optical variability lies in the opportunity of analyzing data from surveys of large sky areas by ground-based telescopes. However, the effectiveness of optical variability selection with respect to other multiwavelength techniques has been poorly studied down to the depth that is expected from next-generation surveys. Aims. Here we present the results of our r-band analysis of a sample of 299 optically variable AGN candidates in the VST survey of the COSMOS field, counting 54 visits spread over three observing seasons spanning more than three years. This dataset is more than three times larger than the dataset presented in our previous analysis, and the observing baseline is about eight times longer. Methods. We push toward deeper magnitudes (r(AB) ∼ 23.5 mag) than were reached in past studies. We made wide use of ancillary multiwavelength catalogs in order to confirm the nature of our AGN candidates, and constrained the accuracy of the method based on spectroscopic and photometric diagnostics. We also performed tests aimed at assessing the relevance of dense sampling in view of future wide-field surveys. Results. We demonstrate that the method allows the selection of high-purity (> 86%) samples. We take advantage of the longer observing baseline to achieve great improvement in the completeness of our sample with respect to X-ray and spectroscopically confirmed samples of AGN (59% vs. ∼15% in our previous work), as well as in the completeness of unobscured and obscured AGN. The effectiveness of the method confirms the importance of developing future more refined techniques for the automated analysis of larger datasets.

Serendipitous discovery of an “ALMA-only” galaxy at 5 < z < 6 in an ALMA 3-mm survey

AbstractWe discuss the serendipitous discovery of a dusty high-redshift galaxy in a small (8 arcmin2) ALMA 3-mm survey Williams et al. (2019). The galaxy was previously unknown and is absent from existing multi-wavelength catalogs (“ALMA-only”). Using the ALMA position as prior, we perform forced deblended photometry to constrain its spectral energy distribution. The spectral energy distribution is well described by a massive (M* = 1010.8 M⊙) and highly obscured (AV ∼ 4) galaxy at redshift z = 5.5 ± 1.1 with star formation rate ∼ 300 M⊙yr−1. Our small survey area implies an uncertain but large contribution to the cosmic star formation rate density, similar to the contribution from all ultraviolet-selected galaxies combined at this redshift. This galaxy likely traces an abundant population of massive galaxies absent from current samples of infrared-selected or sub-millimeter galaxies, but with larger space densities, higher duty cycles, and significant contribution to the cosmic star-formation rate and stellar mass densities.

HELP: modelling the spectral energy distributions ofHerscheldetected galaxies in the ELAIS N1 field

Aims.TheHerschelExtragalactic Legacy Project (HELP) focuses on the data from ESA’sHerschelmission, which covered over 1300 deg2and is preparing to publish a multi-wavelength catalogue of millions of objects. Our main goal is to find the best approach to simultaneously fitting spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of millions of galaxies across a wide redshift range to obtain homogeneous estimates of the main physical parameters of detected infrared (IR) galaxies.Methods.We perform SED fitting on the ultraviolet(UV)/near-infrared(NIR) to far-infrared(FIR) emission of 42 047 galaxies from the pilot HELP field: ELAIS N1. To do this we use the latest release of CIGALE, a galaxy SED fitting code relying on energy balance, to deliver the main physical parameters such as stellar mass, star formation rate, and dust luminosity. We implement additional quality criteria to the fits by calculatingχ2values for the stellar and dust part of the spectra independently. These criteria allow us to identify the best fits and to identify peculiar galaxies. We perform the SED fitting of ELAIS N1 galaxies by assuming three different dust attenuation laws separately allowing us to test the impact of the assumed law on estimated physical parameters.Results.We implemented two additional quality value checks for the SED fitting method based on stellar mass estimation and energy budget. This method allows us to identify possible objects with incorrect matching in the catalogue and peculiar galaxies; we found 351 possible candidates of lensed galaxies using two complementaryχ2s criteria (stellar and infraredχ2s) and photometric redshifts calculated for the IR part of the spectrum only. We find that the attenuation law has an important impact on the stellar mass estimate (on average leading to disparities of a factor of two). We derive the relation between stellar mass estimates obtained by three different attenuation laws and we find the best recipe for our sample. We also make independent estimates of the total dust luminosity parameter from stellar emission by fitting the galaxies with and without IR data separately.

The XXL Survey

Context. To investigate the nature of the extragalactic radio sources, it is necessary to couple radio surveys with multiwavelength observations over large areas of the sky. The XMM-Newton Extragalactic (XXL) survey is the largest survey ever undertaken with the XMM-Newton X-ray telescope over two separate fields of 25 deg2 each (XXL-N and XXL-S). At the same time the XXL survey benefits from a wealth of ancillary data spanning from the far-ultraviolet to the mid-infrared. Aims. In this paper we present the optical, near-infrared (NIR), and X-ray identifications of the 6287 radio sources detected in the 2.1 GHz deep radio survey down to a median rms of σ ≈ 41 μJy beam−1 obtained with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) in the XXL-S field. The goal of this paper is to provide a multiwavelength catalogue of the counterparts of the radio sources to be used in further studies. Methods. For the optical and NIR identification of the radio sources, we used the likelihood ratio (LR) technique, slightly modified in order to take into account the presence of a large number of relatively bright counterparts close to the radio sources. The LR technique was applied to seven optical bands (gBCS, gDec, rBCS, rDec, iBCS, iDec, zDec) and to three NIR bands (J, H, K). Results. The ten different photometric catalogues have been combined into a single master catalogue where all the photometric information in the optical, NIR, and X-ray bands have been collected for the counterparts of the radio sources. This procedure led to the identification of optical/NIR counterparts for 4770 different radio sources (~77% of the whole radio sample), 414 of which also have an X-ray counterpart. This fraction of identification is in agreement with previous radio-optical association studies at a similar optical magnitude depth, but is relatively low in comparison to recent work conducted in other radio fields using deeper optical and NIR data. Conclusions. The analysis of optical and NIR properties of radio sources shows that, regardless of the radio flux limit of a radio survey, the nature of the identified sources is strongly dependent on the depth of the optical/NIR used in the identification process. Only with deep enough optical/NIR data will we be able to identify a significant fraction of radio sources with red (zDec-K) counterparts whose radio emission is dominated by nuclear activity rather than starburst activity.

The Rest-frame Optical Sizes of Massive Galaxies with Suppressed Star Formation at z ∼ 4

Abstract We present the rest-frame optical sizes of massive quiescent galaxies (QGs) at z ∼ 4 measured at the K′-band with the Infrared Camera and Spectrograph and adaptive optics (AO) facility, AO188, on the Subaru telescope. Based on a deep multiwavelength catalog in the Subaru XMM-Newton Deep Survey Field, covering a wide wavelength range from the u-band to the IRAC 8.0 μm over 0.7 deg2, we evaluate the photometric redshift to identify massive (M ⋆ ∼ 1011 M ⊙) galaxies with suppressed star formation. These galaxies show a prominent Balmer break feature at z ∼ 4, suggestive of an evolved stellar population. We then conduct follow-up K′-band imaging with AO for the five brightest galaxies (K AB,total = 22.5 ∼ 23.4). Compared to lower redshift ones, QGs at z ∼ 4 have smaller physical sizes of effective radii r eff = 0.2–1.7 kpc. The mean size measured by stacking the four brightest objects, a more robust measurement, is r eff = 0.5 kpc. This is the first measurement of the rest-frame optical sizes of QGs at z ∼ 4. We evaluate the robustness of our size measurements using simulations and find that our size estimates are reasonably accurate with an expected systematic bias of ∼0.2 kpc. If we account for the stellar mass evolution, massive QGs at z ∼ 4 are likely to evolve into the most massive galaxies today. We find their size evolution with cosmic time in the form of . Their size growth is proportional to the square of stellar mass, indicating that size–stellar mass growth is driven by minor dry mergers.

The CFHQSIR survey: a Y-band extension of the CFHTLS-Wide survey

Context. The Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) has been conducted over a 5-yr period at the CFHT with the MegaCam instrument, totaling 450 nights of observations. The Wide Synoptic Survey is one component of the CFHTLS, covering 155 square degrees in four patches of 23 to 65 square degrees through the whole MegaCam filter set (u*, g’, r’, i’, z’) down to i’AB = 24.5. Aims. With the motivation of searching for high-redshift quasars at redshifts above 6.5, we extend the multi-wavelength CFHTLS-Wide data in the Y -band down to magnitudes of ~22.5 for point sources (5σ). Methods. We observed the four CFHTLS-Wide fields (except one quarter of the W3 field) in the Y -band with the Wide-field InfraRed Camera (WIRCam) at the CFHT. Each field was visited twice, at least three weeks apart. Each visit consisted of two dithered exposures. The images are reduced with the Elixir software used for the CFHTLS and modified to account for the properties of near-InfraRed (IR) data. Two series of image stacks are subsequently produced: four-image stacks for each WIRCam pointing, and one-square-degree tiles matched to the format of the CFHTLS data release. Photometric calibration is performed on stars by fitting stellar spectra to their CFHTLS photometric data and extrapolating their Y -band magnitudes. Results. After corrections accounting for correlated noise, we measure a limiting magnitude of YAB ≃ 22.4 for point sources (5σ) in an aperture diameter of 0.′′93, over 130 square degrees. We produce a multi-wavelength catalogue combining the CFHTLS-Wide optical data with our CFHQSIR (Canada–France High-z quasar survey in the near-InfraRed) Y -band data. We derive the Y -band number counts and compare them to the Vista Deep Extragalactic Observations survey (VIDEO). We find that the addition of the CFHQSIR Y -band data to the CFHTLS optical data increases the accuracy of photometric redshifts and reduces the outlier rate from 13.8% to 8.8% in the redshift range 1.05 ≲ z ≲ 1.2.

SPLASH-SXDF Multi-wavelength Photometric Catalog

We present a multi-wavelength catalog in the Subaru-XMM Deep Field (SXDF) as part of the Spitzer Large Area Survey with Hyper-Suprime-Cam (SPLASH). We include the newly acquired optical data from the Hyper-Suprime Cam Subaru Strategic Program, accompanied by IRAC coverage from the SPLASH survey. All available optical and near-infrared data is homogenized and resampled on a common astrometric reference frame. Source detection is done using a multi-wavelength detection image including the $u$-band to recover the bluest objects. We measure multi-wavelength photometry and compute photometric redshifts as well as stellar masses for $\sim$1.17 million objects over $\sim$4.2 deg$^2$ with $\sim$800,000 objects in the 2.4 deg$^2$ HSC-UltraDeep coverage. Using the available spectroscopic redshifts from various surveys over the range of $0<z<6$, we verify the performance of the photometric redshifts and we find a normalized median absolute deviation of 0.023 and outlier fraction of 3.2%. The SPLASH-SXDF catalog is a valuable, publicly available resource that is perfectly suited for studying galaxies in the early universe and tracing their evolution through cosmic time. The catalog is available for download from https://z.umn.edu/SXDF .

HFF-DeepSpace Photometric Catalogs of the 12 Hubble Frontier Fields, Clusters, and Parallels: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts, and Stellar Masses

We present Hubble multi-wavelength photometric catalogs, including (up to) 17 filters with the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 from the ultra-violet to near-infrared for the Hubble Frontier Fields and associated parallels. We have constructed homogeneous photometric catalogs for all six clusters and their parallels. To further expand these data catalogs, we have added ultra-deep $K_{S}$-band imaging at 2.2~\micron\ from the Very Large Telescope HAWK-I and Keck-I MOSFIRE instruments. We also add post-cryogenic \spitzer\ imaging at 3.6~\micron\ and 4.5~\micron\ with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC), as well as archival IRAC 5.8~\micron\ and 8.0~\micron\ imaging when available. We introduce the public release of the multi-wavelength (0.2--8~\micron) photometric catalogs, and we describe the unique steps applied for the construction of these catalogs. Particular emphasis is given to the source detection band, the contamination of light from the bright cluster galaxies and intra-cluster light. In addition to the photometric catalogs, we provide catalogs of photometric redshifts and stellar population properties. Furthermore, this includes all the images used in the construction of the catalogs, including the combined models of bright cluster galaxies and intra-cluster light, the residual images, segmentation maps and more. These catalogs are a robust data set of the Hubble Frontier Fields and will be an important aide in designing future surveys, as well as planning follow-up programs with current and future observatories to answer key questions remaining about first light, reionization, the assembly of galaxies and many more topics, most notably, by identifying high-redshift sources to target.