UVUDF: Ultraviolet imaging of the Hubble ultra deep field with wide-field camera 3
- Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, MS 100-22, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States)
- Laboratory for Observational Cosmology, Astrophysics Science Division, Code 665, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
- Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
- Laboratoire d'Astrophysique, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire, CH-1290 Sauverny (Switzerland)
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (United States)
- Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
- Department of Physics, Purdue University, 525 Northwestern Avenue, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (United States)
- Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune (India)
We present an overview of a 90 orbit Hubble Space Telescope treasury program to obtain near-ultraviolet imaging of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field using the Wide Field Camera 3 UVIS detector with the F225W, F275W, and F336W filters. This survey is designed to: (1) investigate the episode of peak star formation activity in galaxies at 1 < z < 2.5; (2) probe the evolution of massive galaxies by resolving sub-galactic units (clumps); (3) examine the escape fraction of ionizing radiation from galaxies at z ∼ 2-3; (4) greatly improve the reliability of photometric redshift estimates; and (5) measure the star formation rate efficiency of neutral atomic-dominated hydrogen gas at z ∼ 1-3. In this overview paper, we describe the survey details and data reduction challenges, including both the necessity of specialized calibrations and the effects of charge transfer inefficiency. We provide a stark demonstration of the effects of charge transfer inefficiency on resultant data products, which when uncorrected, result in uncertain photometry, elongation of morphology in the readout direction, and loss of faint sources far from the readout. We agree with the STScI recommendation that future UVIS observations that require very sensitive measurements use the instrument's capability to add background light through a 'post-flash'. Preliminary results on number counts of UV-selected galaxies and morphology of galaxies at z ∼ 1 are presented. We find that the number density of UV dropouts at redshifts 1.7, 2.1, and 2.7 is largely consistent with the number predicted by published luminosity functions. We also confirm that the image mosaics have sufficient sensitivity and resolution to support the analysis of the evolution of star-forming clumps, reaching 28-29th magnitude depth at 5σ in a 0.''2 radius aperture depending on filter and observing epoch.
- OSTI ID:
- 22340064
- Journal Information:
- Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Vol. 146, Issue 6; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-3881
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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