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P. McCarthy, R. Marzke, H.W. Chen, E. Persson, A. Oemler, A. Dressler, M. Beckett, J. Wilson (OCIW), R. Carlberg (Toronto), A. Firth, R. McMahon, R. Abraham, C. McKay (Cambridge), R. Ellis (Caltech)
We have begun a large area deep near-IR survey that will address several outstanding problems in the understanding of the evolution of massive galaxies and the growth of large-scale structure. This program is made possible by the development of a near-IR mosaic camera based on 4 1024 \times 1024 HgCdTe arrays that image 13' \times 13' in a single dither sequence. With this capability we will: (1) Image one square degree to Ks = 21.1, J = 22.6, and sufficient depths at V,R,I, and z' to detect early-type galaxies at z=2 in all filters. (2) Apply a photometric redshift technique to select red galaxies at z > 1. (2) Determine the luminosity function of red galaxies at z ~1.5. (3) Assemble a sample of several hundred Extremely Red Objects and derive their spectral energy and magnitude distributions. (4) Identify several hundred \muJy radio sources and derive their optical and near-IR luminosity functions, spatial clustering and evolution. (5) Measure the spatial correlation function of red galaxies in two distinct redshift bins between 1 < z < 2 and compare these with measurements at lower redshifts. (6) Define large samples of candidate high redshift near-IR selected galaxies for follow-up spectroscopy with the Gemini 8m and the two Magellan 6.5m telescopes.