The Extremely Red Objects Found Thus Far in the Caltech Faint Galaxy Redshift Survey

We discuss the very red objects found in the first field of the Caltech Faint Galaxy Redshift Survey, for which the observations and analysis are now complete. In this field, which is 15 arcmin$^2$ and at J005325+1234 there are 195 objects with $K_s < 20$ mag, of which 84% have redshifts. The sample includes 24 spectroscopically confirmed Galactic stars, 136 galaxies, three AGNs, and 32 objects without redshifts. About 10% of the sample has $(R-K) \ge 5$ mag. Four of these objects have redshifts, with $0.78 \le z \le 1.23$. Three of these are based on absorption features in the mid-UV, while the lowest redshift object shows the standard features near 4000\AA. Many of the objects still without redshifts have been observed spectroscopically, and no emission lines were seen in their spectra. We believe they are galaxies with $z \sim 1 - 1.5$ that are red due to their age and stellar content and not to some large amount of internal reddening from dust. Among the many other results from this survey of interest here is a determination of the median extinction in the mid-UV for objects with strong emission line spectra at $z \sim 1 - 1.3$. The result is extinction by a factor of $\sim$2 at 2400\AA.Comment: 6 pages, Latex, with 2 figures. To be published in the proceedings of the conference "Infrared Surveys: A Prelude to SIRTF

The oxygen-II luminosity density of the Universe

Equivalent widths of [OII] 3727 A lines are measured in 375 faint galaxy spectra taken as part of the Caltech Faint Galaxy Redshift Survey centered on the Hubble Deep Field. The sensitivity of the survey spectra to the [OII] line is computed as a function of magnitude, color and redshift. The luminosity function of galaxies in the [OII] line and the integrated luminosity density of the Universe in the [OII] line are computed as a function of redshift. It is found that the luminosity density in the [OII] line was a factor of ~10 higher at redshifts z~1 than it is at the present day. The simplest interpretation is that the star formation rate density of the Universe has declined dramatically since z~1.Comment: accepted for publication in Ap

Counts and Colors of Faint Galaxies in the U and R Bands

Ground-based counts and colors of faint galaxies in the U and R bands in one field at high Galactic latitude are presented. Integrated over flux, a total of 1.2x10^5 sources per square degree are found to U=25.5 mag and 6.3x10^5 sources per square degree to R=27 mag, with d log N/dm ~ 0.5 in the U band and d log N/dm ~ 0.3 in the R band. Consistent with these number-magnitude curves, sources become bluer with increasing magnitude to median U-R=0.6 mag at 24<U<25 mag and U-R=1.2 mag at 25 < R < 26 mag. Because the Lyman break redshifts into the U band at z~3, at least 1.2x10^5 sources per square degree must be at redshifts z<3. Measurable U-band fluxes of 73 percent of the 6.3x10^5 sources per square degree suggest that the majority of these also lie at z < 3. These results require an enormous space density of objects in any cosmological model.Comment: 17 pages, MNRAS in pres

The O II Luminosity Density of the Universe

Equivalent widths of [O II] 3727 Å lines are measured in 375 faint galaxy spectra taken as part of the Caltech Faint Galaxy Redshift Survey centered on the Hubble Deep Field. The sensitivity of the survey spectra to the [O II] line is computed as a function of magnitude, color, and redshift. The luminosity function of galaxies in the [O II] line, and the integrated luminosity density of the universe in the [O II] line, are computed as a function of redshift. It is found that the luminosity density in the [O II] line was a factor of ~10 higher at redshifts z ~ 1 than it is at the present day. The simplest interpretation is that the star formation rate density of the universe has declined dramatically since z ~ 1

Caltech Faint Field Galaxy Redshift Survey IX: Source detection and photometry in the Hubble Deep Field Region

Detection and photometry of sources in the U_n, G, R, and K_s bands in a 9x9 arcmin^2 region of the sky, centered on the Hubble Deep Field, are described. The data permit construction of complete photometric catalogs to roughly U_n=25, G=26, R=25.5 and K_s=20 mag, and significant photometric measurements somewhat fainter. The galaxy number density is 1.3x10^5 deg^{-2} to R=25.0 mag. Galaxy number counts have slopes dlog N/dm=0.42, 0.33, 0.27 and 0.31 in the U_n, G, R and K_s bands, consistent with previous studies and the trend that fainter galaxies are, on average, bluer. Galaxy catalogs selected in the R and K_s bands are presented, containing 3607 and 488 sources, in field areas of 74.8 and 59.4 arcmin^2, to R=25.5 and and K_s=20 mag.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJS; some tables and slightly nicer figures available at http://www.sns.ias.edu/~hogg/deep

Caltech Faint Galaxy Redshift Survey VII: Data Analysis Techniques and Redshifts in the Field J0053+1234

We present the techniques used to determine redshifts and to characterize the spectra of objects in the Caltech Faint Galaxy Redshift Survey in terms of spectral classes and redshift quality classes. These are then applied to spectra from an investigation of a complete sample of objects with $K_s<20$ mag in a 2 by 7.3 arcmin^2 field at J005325+1234. Redshifts were successfully obtained for 163 of the 195 objects in the sample; these redshifts lie in the range [0.173, 1.44] and have a median of 0.58 (excluding 24 Galactic stars). The sample includes two broad lined AGNs and one QSO.Comment: 20 pages, Latex, 3 figures, accepted for publication in the ApJ Supplement

Caltech Faint Galaxy Redshift Survey. VIII. Analysis of the Field J0053+1234

The results of a spectroscopic investigation of a complete sample of objects with K_s1.5, and the galaxies in such groups appear to be coeval and to show little sign of ongoing star formation. The galaxies outside the redshift peaks are also clustered, albeit more weakly, are less luminous and more frequently exhibit strong emission lines. These "isolated" galaxies therefore appear, on average, to form stars at later epochs than the strongly clustered galaxies. The galaxy spectral energy distributions (SEDs) derived from our UBVRIK photometry are also very closely correlated with the galaxy spectral types and luminosities. These results have strong implications for the analysis of redshift surveys at intermediate redshift. The sample is used to investigate the evolution of the combined galaxy luminosity function back to z=0.8. No significant change is found in the characteristic luminosity L*, and only weak color changes are detected, consistent with passive evolution. The blue galaxy-luminosity function is more dwarf rich than the red galaxy-luminosity function. No significant change in the comoving density is found in this sample out to z~1.4, assuming that the objects without redshifts (16% of the sample) are galaxies, essentially all of which have z>0.8. This suggests that mergers are not important among the objects in this sample. A population of extremely red objects with (R-K)>5 mag exists in the infrared-selected sample; all four such objects with redshifts are found to be absorption-line galaxies with z~1. Most of the very red objects therefore appear to be galaxies with z≳1 that are not heavily reddened by dust. A measure of the UV extinction at 2400 Å for the emission-line galaxies of a factor of 2 is obtained, implying only modest UV extinction in high-redshift star-forming galaxies

Keck Spectroscopy of Three Gravitational Lens Systems Discovered in the JVAS and CLASS Surveys

We present spectra of three gravitational lens systems taken with the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph on the W. M. Keck Telescopes. All of the systems were discovered in the JVAS and CLASS radio surveys, which were designed to find lenses suitable for measuring $H_0$. Previous spectra of these systems had low signal-to-noise ratios, and only one of the source redshifts was secure. Our observations give unambiguous lens and source redshifts for all of the systems, with ($z_l$, $z_s$) = (0.4060,1.339), (0.5990,1.535) and (0.4144,1.589) for B0712+472, B1030+074 and B1600+434, respectively. The observed image splittings in the systems imply that the masses of the lensing galaxies within their Einstein rings are 5.4$\times 10^{10}$, 1.2$\times 10^{11}$, and 6.3\times 10^{10} h^{-1} M_{\sun}. The resulting V-band mass-to-light ratios for B0712+472 and B1030+074, measured inside their Einstein ring radii, are \sim 10h (M/L)_{\sun, V}, slightly higher than values observed in nearby ellipticals. For B1600+434, the mass-to-light ratio is 48h (M/L)_{\sun, V}. This high value can be explained, at least in part, by the prominent dust lane running through the galaxy. Two of the three lens systems show evidence of variability, so monitoring may yield a time delay and thus a measurement of $H_0$.Comment: 8 pages, 5 Postscript Figures, uses aastex. To appear in A.

Caltech Faint Galaxy Redshift Survey X: A Redshift Survey in the Region of the Hubble Deep Field North

A redshift survey has been carried out in the region of the Hubble Deep Field North using the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph at the Keck Observatory. The resulting redshift catalog, which contains 671 entries, is a compendium of our own data together with published LRIS/Keck data. It is more than 92% complete for objects, irrespective of morphology, to $R = 24$ mag in the HDF itself and to $R = 23$ mag in the Flanking Fields within a diameter of 8 arcmin centered on the HDF, an unusually high completion for a magnitude limited survey performed with a large telescope. A median redshift $z = 1.0$ is reached at $R \sim 23.8$. Strong peaks in the redshift distribution, which arise when a group or poor cluster of galaxies intersect the area surveyed, can be identified to $z \sim 1.2$ in this dataset. More than 68% of the galaxies are members of these redshift peaks. In a few cases, closely spaced peaks in $z$ can be resolved into separate groups of galaxies that can be distinguished in both velocity and location on the sky. The radial separation of these peaks in the pencil-beam survey is consistent with a characteristic length scale for the their separation of $\approx$70 Mpc in our adopted cosmology ($h = 0.6, \Omega_M = 0.3$, $\Lambda = 0$). Strong galaxy clustering is in evidence at all epochs back to $z \le 1.1$. (abstract abridged)Comment: Accepted to the ApJ. This version contains all the figures and tables. 2 minor typos in table 2b correcte