The discovery of cosmic radio emission by Karl Jansky in the course of searching for the source of interference to telephone communications and the instrumental advances which followed, have led to a series of new paradigm changing astronomical disco
veries. These discoveries, which to a large extent define much of modern astrophysical research were the result of the right people being in the right place at the right time using powerful new instruments, which in many cases they had designed and built. They were not the result of trying to test any particular theoretical model or trying to answer previously posed questions, but they opened up whole new areas of exploration and discovery. Rather many important discoveries came from military or communications research; others while looking for something else; and yet others from just looking. Traditionally, the designers of big telescopes invariably did not predict what the telescopes would ultimately be known for. The place in history of the next generation of telescopes will not likely be found in the science case created to justify their construction, but in the unexpected new phenomena, new theories, and new ideas which will emerge from these discoveries. It is important that those who are in a position to filter research proposals and plans not dismiss as butterfly collecting, investigations which explore new areas without having predefined the result they are looking for. Progress must also allow for new discoveries, as well as for the explanation of old discoveries. New telescopes need to be designed with the flexibility to make new discoveries which will invariably raise new questions and new problems.
We report 20 and 6 cm VLA deep observations of the CDF-S including the Extended CDF-S. We discuss the radio properties of 266 cataloged radio sources, of which 198 are above a 20 cm completeness level reaching down to 43 microJy at the center of the
field. Survey observations made at 6 cm over a more limited region covers the original CDF-S to a comparable level of sensitivity as the 20 cm observations. Of 266 cataloged radio sources, 52 have X-ray counterparts in the CDF-S and a further 37 in the E-CDF-S area not covered by the 1 Megasecond exposure. Using a wide range of material, we have found optical or infrared counterparts for 254 radio sources, of which 186 have either spectroscopic or photometric redshifts (Paper II). Three radio sources have no apparent counterpart at any other wavelength. Measurements of the 20 cm radio flux density at the position of each CDF-S X-ray source detected a further 30 radio sources above a conservative 3-sigma detection limit. X-ray and sub-mm observations have been traditionally used as a measure of AGN and star formation activity, respectively. These new observations probe the faint end of both the star formation and radio galaxy/AGN population, as well as the connection between the formation and evolution of stars and SMBHs. Both of the corresponding gravitational and nuclear fusion driven energy sources can lead to radio synchrotron emission. AGN and radio galaxies dominate at high flux densities. Although emission from star formation becomes more prominent at the microjansky levels reached by deep radio surveys, even for the weakest sources, we still find an apparent significant contribution from low luminosity AGN as well as from star formation.
We present the optical and infrared identifications of the 266 radio sources detected at 20 cm with the Very Large Array in the Chandra Deep Field South (Kellermann et al. 2008). Using deep i-band Advanced Camera for Surveys, R-band Wide Field Imager
, K-band SOFI/NTT, K-band ISAAC/VLT and Spitzer imaging data, we are able to find reliable counterparts for 254 (~95%) VLA sources. Twelve radio sources remain unidentified and three of them are ``empty fields. Using literature and our own data we are able to assign redshifts to 186 (~70%) radio sources: 108 are spectroscopic redshifts and 78 reliable photometric redshifts. Based on the rest frame colors and morphological distributions of the host galaxies we find evidences for a change in the submillijansky radio source population: a) above ~ 0.08 mJy early-type galaxies are dominating; b) at flux densities below ~0.08 mJy, starburst galaxies become dominant.
