Constraining the Star Formation History with Photometric Redshifts

Abstract

Large scale structures can bias global measurements, such as the star formation history, due to over and under densities in the field at a given redshift. To overcome this problem large area redshift surveys are necessary. Photometric redshifts provide an economical method for estimating the distances to galaxies using the broad band photometry. To this end we are surveying 1.2 sq. degrees centered on the Hawaii survey fields in U, B, V, R, I, z’, J, HK’ to depths similar to the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS). Many of these fields have also been observed in the x-ray, sub-mm, and radio and will be observed with SIRTIF in the near future. Using, our data in the Hawaii Hubble Deep Field North (Hawaii HDF-N) and SSA22, we have obtained photometric redshifts accurate to dz/(1+z)=0.06. These can then be used to measure the global star formation history and the evolution of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN).

Keywords

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