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We describe the design and data sample from the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey, the densest and largest precision-redshift survey of galaxies at z ~ 1 completed to date. The survey has conducted a comprehensive census of massive galaxies, their properties, environments, and large-scale structure down to absolute magnitude M_B = -20 at z ~ 1 via ~90 nights of observation on the DEIMOS spectrograph at Keck Observatory. DEEP2 covers an area of 2.8 deg^2 divided into four separate fields, observed to a limiting apparent magnitude of R_AB=24.1. Objects with z < 0.7 are rejected based on BRI photometry in three of the four DEEP2 fields, allowing galaxies with z > 0.7 to be targeted ~2.5 times more efficiently than in a purely magnitude-limited sample. Approximately sixty percent of eligible targets are chosen for spectroscopy, yielding nearly 53,000 spectra and more than 38,000 reliable redshift measurements. Most of the targets which fail to yield secure redshifts are blue objects that lie beyond z ~ 1.45. The DEIMOS 1200-line/mm grating used for the survey delivers high spectral resolution (R~6000), accurate and secure redshifts, and unique internal kinematic information. Extensive ancillary data are available in the DEEP2 fields, particularly in the Extended Groth Strip, which has evolved into one of the richest multiwavelength regions on the sky. DEEP2 surpasses other deep precision-redshift surveys at z ~ 1 in terms of galaxy numbers, redshift accuracy, sample number density, and amount of spectral information. We also provide an overview of the scientific highlights of the DEEP2 survey thus far. This paper is intended as a handbook for users of the DEEP2 Data Release 4, which includes all DEEP2 spectra and redshifts, as well as for the publicly-available DEEP2 DEIMOS data reduction pipelines. [Abridged]
This paper describes a new catalog that supplements the existing DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey photometric and spectroscopic catalogs with ugriz photometry from two other surveys; the Canada-France-Hawaii Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Each catalog is cross-matched by position on the sky in order to assign ugriz photometry to objects in the DEEP2 catalogs. We have recalibrated the CFHTLS photometry where it overlaps DEEP2 in order to provide a more uniform dataset. We have also used this improved photometry to predict DEEP2 BRI photometry in regions where only poorer measurements were available previously. In addition, we have included improved astrometry tied to SDSS rather than USNO-A2.0 for all DEEP2 objects. In total this catalog contains ~27,000 objects with full ugriz photometry as well as robust spectroscopic redshift measurements, 64% of which have r > 23. By combining the secure and accurate redshifts of the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey with ugriz photometry, we have created a catalog that can be used as an excellent testbed for future photo-z studies, including tests of algorithms for surveys such as LSST and DES.
We develop empirical methods for modeling the galaxy population and populating cosmological N-body simulations with mock galaxies according to the observed properties of galaxies in survey data. We use these techniques to produce a new set of mock catalogs for the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey based on the output of the high-resolution Bolshoi simulation, as well as two other simulations with different cosmological parameters, all of which we release for public use. The mock-catalog creation technique uses subhalo abundance matching to assign galaxy luminosities to simulated dark-matter halos. It then adds color information to the resulting mock galaxies in a manner that depends on the local galaxy density, in order to reproduce the measured color-environment relation in the data. In the course of constructing the catalogs, we test various models for including scatter in the relation between halo mass and galaxy luminosity, within the abundance-matching framework. We find that there is no constant-scatter model that can simultaneously reproduce both the luminosity function and the autocorrelation function of DEEP2. This result has implications for galaxy-formation theory, and it restricts the range of contexts in which the mocks can be usefully applied. Nevertheless, careful comparisons show that our new mocks accurately reproduce a wide range of the other properties of the DEEP2 catalog, suggesting that they can be used to gain a detailed understanding of various selection effects in DEEP2.
We present results from a comprehensive imaging survey of 70 radio galaxies at redshifts 1<z<5.2 using all three cameras onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope. The resulting spectral energy distributions unambiguously show a stellar population in 46 sources and hot dust emission associated with the active nucleus in 59. Using a new restframe S_3um/S_1.6um versus S_um/S_3um criterion, we identify 42 sources where the restframe 1.6um emission from the stellar population can be measured. For these radio galaxies, the median stellar mass is high, 2x10^11 M_sun, and remarkably constant within the range 1<z<3. At z>3, there is tentative evidence for a factor of two decrease in stellar mass. This suggests that radio galaxies have assembled the bulk of their stellar mass by z~3, but confirmation by more detailed decomposition of stellar and AGN emission is needed. The restframe 500 MHz radio luminosities are only marginally correlated with stellar mass but are strongly correlated with the restframe 5um hot dust luminosity. This suggests that the radio galaxies have a large range of Eddington ratios. We also present new Very Large Array 4.86 and 8.46 GHz imaging of 14 radio galaxies and find that radio core dominance --- an indicator of jet orientation --- is strongly correlated with hot dust luminosity. While all of our targets were selected as narrow-lined, type 2 AGNs, this result can be understood in the context of orientation-dependent models if there is a continuous distribution of orientations from obscured type 2 to unobscured type 1 AGNs rather than a clear dichotomy. Finally, four radio galaxies have nearby (<6) companions whose mid-IR colors are suggestive of their being AGNs. This may indicate an association between radio galaxy activity and major mergers.
The PRIsm MUti-object Survey (PRIMUS) is a spectroscopic galaxy redshift survey to z~1 completed with a low-dispersion prism and slitmasks allowing for simultaneous observations of ~2,500 objects over 0.18 square degrees. The final PRIMUS catalog includes ~130,000 robust redshifts over 9.1 sq. deg. In this paper, we summarize the PRIMUS observational strategy and present the data reduction details used to measure redshifts, redshift precision, and survey completeness. The survey motivation, observational techniques, fields, target selection, slitmask design, and observations are presented in Coil et al 2010. Comparisons to existing higher-resolution spectroscopic measurements show a typical precision of sigma_z/(1+z)=0.005. PRIMUS, both in area and number of redshifts, is the largest faint galaxy redshift survey completed to date and is allowing for precise measurements of the relationship between AGNs and their hosts, the effects of environment on galaxy evolution, and the build up of galactic systems over the latter half of cosmic history.
The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) is designed to measure redshifts for approximately 250000 galaxies. This paper describes the survey design, the spectroscopic observations, the redshift measurements and the survey database. The 2dFGRS uses the 2dF multi-fibre spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope, which is capable of observing 400 objects simultaneously over a 2-degree diameter field. The source catalogue for the survey is a revised and extended version of the APM galaxy catalogue, and the targets are galaxies with extinction-corrected magnitudes brighter than b_J=19.45. The main survey regions are two declination strips, one in the southern Galactic hemisphere spanning 80deg x 15deg around the SGP, and the other in the northern Galactic hemisphere spanning 75deg x 10deg along the celestial equator; in addition, there are 99 fields spread over the southern Galactic cap. The survey covers 2000 sq.deg and has a median depth of z=0.11. Adaptive tiling is used to give a highly uniform sampling rate of 93% over the whole survey region. Redshifts are measured from spectra covering 3600A-8000A at a two-pixel resolution of 9.0A and a median S/N of 13 per pixel. All redshift identifications are visually checked and assigned a quality parameter Q in the range 1-5; Q>=3 redshifts are 98.4% reliable and have an rms uncertainty of 85 km/s. The overall redshift completeness for Q>=3 redshifts is 91.8%, but this varies with magnitude from 99% for the brightest galaxies to 90% for objects at the survey limit. The 2dFGRS database is available on the WWW at http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/2dFGRS