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Session 51 - Galaxy Evolution and the Intergalactic Medium.
Display session, Wednesday, June 10
Atlas Ballroom,
An analysis of spectroscopic data on faint galaxies in an 8-arcmin diameter region centered on the Hubble Deep Field is presented. Source detection and photometry is performed in the U_n, G, \cal R and K_s-band images to create catalogs complete to U_n=25, G=26, \cal R=25.5 and K_s=20 mag. Keck Telescope spectroscopy exists for over 500 sources in the sample; the median redshift is 0.6.
The rest-frame equivalent widths of the \rm\left[O\,II\right] 3727\,Å\ emission line are measured as a function of galaxy flux, color and redshift. The probability that a source of a given flux, color and redshift has its \rm\left[O\,II\right] line detected is estimated. \rm\left[O\,II\right] line luminosity functions and integrated \rm\left[O\,II\right] line luminosity densities are computed; they show strong evolution, implying a much higher star formation rate density at redshifts z\sim 1 than locally.
The B-band luminosity function for the \cal R-selected sample is computed using an estimate of the probability that a source is assigned a redshift given that it has been observed spectroscopically, based on the \rm\left[O\,II\right] detection probability. The luminosity function is flat (constant number per log luminosity) and consistent with local determinations except for a higher overall normalization. No evidence is found for dependence of the luminosity function on redshift or environment, but the blue galaxy luminosity function is more dwarf-rich than the red.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: hogg@ias.edu