A MUSE View of the HDFS: The Lyα Luminosity Function out to z~6

We present preliminary results from MUSE on the Lyα luminosity function in the Hubble Deep Field South (HDFS). Using a large homogeneous sample of LAEs selected through blind spectroscopy, we utilise the unprecedented detection power of MUSE to study the progenitors of L* galaxies back to when the Universe was just ~2 Gyr old. We present these results in the context of the current literature, and highlight the importance of the forthcoming Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) study with MUSE, which will increase the size of our sample by a factor of ~ 10.

Photometric Redshifts in the Hawaii-Hubble Deep Field-North

We derive zphot for sources in the entire (~0.4 deg2) H-HDF-N field with the EAzY code, based on PSF-matched broad-band (U band to IRAC 4.5 μm) photometry. Our catalog consists of a total of 131,678 sources. We find σNMAD = 0.029 for non-X-ray sources. We also classify each object as a star or galaxy through SED fitting. Furthermore, we match our catalog with the 2 Ms CDF-N main X-ray catalog. For the 462 matched non-stellar X-ray sources, we improve their zphot quality (σNMAD = 0.035) by adding three additional AGN templates. We make our photometry and zphot catalog publicly available.

A molecular scan in the Hubble Deep Field North

Our understanding of galaxy evolution has traditionally been driven by pre-selection of galaxies based on their broad-band continuum emission. This approach is potentially biased, in particular against gas-rich systems at high-redshift which may be dust-obscured. To overcome this limitation, we have recently concluded a blind CO survey at 3mm in a region of the Hubble Deep Field North using the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer. Our study resulted in 1) the discovery of the redshift of the bright SMG HDF850.1 (z = 5.183); 2) the discovery of a bright line identified as CO(2-1) arising from a BzK galaxy at z = 1.785, and of other 6 CO lines associated with various galaxies in the field; 3) the detection of a few lines (presumably CO(3-2) at z ∼ 2) with no optical/NIR/MIR counterparts. These observational results allowed us to expand the parameter space of galaxy properties probed so far in high-z molecular gas studies. Most importantly, we could set first direct constraints on the cosmic evolution of the molecular gas content of the universe. The present study represents a first, fundamental step towards an unbiased census of molecular gas in ‘normal’ galaxies at high-z, a crucial goal of extragalactic astronomy in the ALMA era.