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arXiv · astro-ph/0401439

A Survey of Star-Forming Galaxies in the z=1.4-2.5 `Redshift Desert': Overview

Abstract

We present the first results of a large-scale survey, using the UV/blue sensitive LRIS-B spectrograph on the Keck I telescope, of galaxies in the redshift interval 1.4 =2.20+/-0.32 and `BM' galaxies at =1.70+/-0.34; currently we have spectroscopically confirmed 749 of the former and 114 of the latter. We also present initial results of deep near-IR photometry and spectroscopy, from which we show that z~2 galaxies are significantly redder in their optical/IR colors compared to similarly UV-selected galaxies at z~3, but that the characteristics of their galaxy-scale outflows are quite similar. We illustrate by example the information which can be deduced on the stellar populations, metallicities, and kinematics of `redshift desert' galaxies from easily accessible rest-frame far-UV and rest-frame optical spectra. Far from being hostile to observations, the universe at z~2 is uniquely suited to providing information on the astrophysics of star-forming galaxies and the intergalactic medium, and the relationship between the two [abridged].

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C. C. Steidel, A. E. Shapley, M. Pettini, K. L. Adelberger, D. K. Erb, N. A. Reddy, M. P. Hunt. 2004-01-21. A Survey of Star-Forming Galaxies in the z=1.4-2.5 `Redshift Desert': Overview. https://doi.org/10.1086/381960

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