Galaxy Evolution from Deep Multicolor Surveys: The VLT Perspective

Abstract

This paper describes the status and perspectives of multicolor deep imaging as a tool to study galaxy evolution at high redshifts. Using color selection criteria or photometric redshift, these kind of observations may provide useful informations on the statistical distribution and physical properties of galaxies along the whole history of the Universe, that can be compared with the theoretical predictions coming from semianalytical models. As an example, recent results on the galaxy luminosity function at different redshifts are shown.

Most of the observational effort to exploit these techniques is spent on the shortest (U-B) and longest (J-K) wavelengths, and future scientific applications require surveys on areas an order of magnitude larger than current. For the VLT to be competitive in the long term, and to match the expected performances of VIMOS, I emphasize the need for efficient VLT imagers in the U-B and K bands with field of view of the order of 10’ × 10’.