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Session 6 - Evolution, Survey and Clusters of Galaxies.
Display session, Monday, June 10
Tripp Commons,
We are using the VLA to image the Hubble Deep field at 8.4 GHz with high sensitivity and resolution. A VLA image based on fifty one hours of observations made in the C-Configuration during February and March 1996 give an rms noise of 2.8 microJy with a resolution of 3 arcseconds (FWHM). Seven sources detected within the HDF are identified with galaxies of various types brighter than magnitude 25.
Further observations are planned using the VLA D and A configurations. The D configuration observations will have a resolution of 10 arcseconds and will give good sensitivity over the full area of the HST flanking fields. The observations in the largest A configuration will cover the area of the HDF with a resolution about 0.25 arcseconds. For the first time it will be possible to compare the radio and optical morphology of distant galaxies with a linear resolution comparable to that previously obtained for nearby galaxies. The final sensitivity of the VLA image will approach one microJy rms, and will be the most sensitive radio image ever made.
We anticipate that we will detect about 20 sources within the HDF above a limiting flux density of 6 microJy. We expect that all of the radio sources will be identified with galaxies or quasars in the HDF brighter than magnitude 27 or 28, which will allow us to examine the low end of the radio galaxy luminosity function at cosmologicaly interesting redshifts. Failure to identify any sources down to the HDF limit of magnitude 29.5 will be of great interest.
