GALEX Detection of Lyman Break Galaxies at z=1 in the CDFS

Abstract

The first large sample of Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) at z~1 is selected from GALEX Far-UV and Near-UV images of the Chandra Deep Field South. This multi-wavelength study is based on the wealth of data available in this field: SPITZER-MIPS to estimate total IR luminosities and dust attenuations, redshifts from COMBO-17, EIS and GOODS to check the validity of dropout identifications and GOODS to derive the morphology of about 40 of our LBGs. The advantages of this "nearby" LBG sample are that images reach fainter fluxes and surface brightnesses, allowing a deeper detection at all wavelengths and a better morphological analysis. Moreover, the 24-mic fluxes (i.e. 12-mic rest-frame) permit a good estimation of dust attenuations and total IR luminosities. The main results are that the vast majority of our LBGs are also Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs). The morphology of 75% of our LBGs is consistent with a disk. Previous estimates of dust attenuations based on the ultraviolet slope are likely to be too large by a factor of about 2, which implies that estimated star formation rates were too large by the same amount. This sample in the z~1 universe provides us with a high quality reference sample of LBGs.