UV-dropout Galaxies in the GOODS-South Field from WFC3 Early Release Science Observations

Details UV-dropout Galaxies in the GOODS-South Field from WFC3 Early Release Science Observations UV-dropout Galaxies in the GOODS-South Field from WFC3 Early Release Science Observations

2010-04-28

arxiv.org/abs/1004.5141v2

Astrophys.J.720:1708-1716,2010

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics

Accepted for publication in ApJ (24 pages, 7 figures)

Scientific paper

We combine new high sensitivity ultraviolet (UV) imaging from the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) with existing deep HST/Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) optical images from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) program to identify UV-dropouts, which are Lyman break galaxy (LBG) candidates at z~1-3. These new HST/WFC3 observations were taken over 50 sq.arcmin in the GOODS-South field as a part of the Early Release Science program. The uniqueness of these new UV data is that they are observed in 3 UV/optical (WFC3 UVIS) channel filters (F225W, F275W and F336W), which allows us to identify three different sets of UV-dropout samples. We apply Lyman break dropout selection criteria to identify F225W-, F275W- and F336W-dropouts, which are z~1.7, 2.1 and 2.7 LBG candidates, respectively. Our results are as follows: (1) these WFC3 UVIS filters are very reliable in selecting LBGs with z~2.0, which helps to reduce the gap between the well studied z~>3 and z~0 regimes, (2) the combined number counts agrees very well with the observed change in the surface densities as a function of redshift when compared with the higher redshift LBG samples; and (3) the best-fit Schechter function parameters from the rest-frame UV luminosity functions at three different redshifts fit very well with the evolutionary trend of the characteristic absolute magnitude, and the faint-end slope, as a function of redshift. This is the first study to illustrate the usefulness of the WFC3 UVIS channel observations to select z<3 LBGs. The addition of the new WFC3 on the HST has made it possible to uniformly select LBGs from z~1 to z~9, and significantly enhance our understanding of these galaxies using HST sensitivity and resolution.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

UV-dropout Galaxies in the GOODS-South Field from WFC3 Early Release Science Observations does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with UV-dropout Galaxies in the GOODS-South Field from WFC3 Early Release Science Observations, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and UV-dropout Galaxies in the GOODS-South Field from WFC3 Early Release Science Observations will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-284086