The FourStar galaxy evolution survey (ZFOURGE): Ultraviolet to far-infrared catalogs, medium-bandwidth photometric redshifts with improved accuracy, stellar masses, and confirmation of quiescent galaxies to z ~ 3.5

Caroline M S Straatman, Lee R. Spitler, Ryan F. Quadri, Ivo Labbé, Karl Glazebrook, S. Eric Persson, Casey Papovich, Kim Vy H Tran, Gabriel B. Brammer, Michael Cowley, Adam Tomczak, Themiya Nanayakkara, Leo Alcorn, Rebecca Allen, Adam Broussard, Pieter Van Dokkum, Ben Forrest, Josha Van Houdt, Glenn G. Kacprzak, Lalitwadee KawinwanichakijDaniel D. Kelson, Janice Lee, Patrick J. McCarthy, Nicola Mehrtens, Andrew Monson, David Murphy, Glen Rees, Vithal Tilvi, Katherine E. Whitaker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

187 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The FourStar galaxy evolution survey (ZFOURGE) is a 45 night legacy program with the FourStar near-infrared camera on Magellan and one of the most sensitive surveys to date. ZFOURGE covers a total of 400 arcmin2 in cosmic fields CDFS, COSMOS and UDS, overlapping CANDELS. We present photometric catalogs comprising >70,000 galaxies, selected from ultradeep K s-band detection images (25.5-26.5 AB mag, 5σ, total), and >80% complete to K s < 25.3-25.9 AB. We use 5 near-IR medium-bandwidth filters (J 1, J 2, J 3, H s, H l) as well as broad-band K s at 1.05-2.16 μm to 25-26 AB at a seeing of ∼0.″5. Each field has ancillary imaging in 26-40 filters at 0.3-8 μm. We derive photometric redshifts and stellar population properties. Comparing with spectroscopic redshifts indicates a photometric redshift uncertainty σ z = 0.010, 0.009, and 0.011 in CDFS, COSMOS, and UDS. As spectroscopic samples are often biased toward bright and blue sources, we also inspect the photometric redshift differences between close pairs of galaxies, finding σ z,pairs = 0.01-0.02 at 1 < z < 2.5. We quantify how σ z,pairs depends on redshift, magnitude, spectral energy distribution type, and the inclusion of FourStar medium bands. σ z,pairs is smallest for bright, blue star-forming samples, while red star-forming galaxies have the worst σ z,pairs. Including FourStar medium bands reduces σ z,pairs by 50% at 1.5 < z < 2.5. We calculate star formation rates (SFRs) based on ultraviolet and ultradeep far-IR Spitzer/MIPS and Herschel/PACS data. We derive rest-frame U - V and V - J colors, and illustrate how these correlate with specific SFR and dust emission to z = 3.5. We confirm the existence of quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 3, demonstrating their SFRs are suppressed by > ×15.

Original languageEnglish
Article number51
Pages (from-to)1-34
Number of pages34
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume830
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Oct 2016

Keywords

  • cosmology: observations
  • galaxies: evolution
  • galaxies: high-redshift
  • infrared: galaxies

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