The DEEP Survey of the Distant Universe

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AST-0071048DavisThis is a collaborative research project with Sandra Faber and colleagues at University of California, Santa Cruz (AST0071198). The goal of this research is to conduct a large, systematic survey of galaxies with redshifts Z 0.7. This survey (Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe - DEEP) is designed to measure both the properties of distant galaxies and their distribution in space. It consists of two parts: a 1-hour survey (1HS), to map the spatial locations of ~50,000 galaxies with Z0.7, and a 3-hour survey (3HS), on a sub sample of the 1HS targets, to measure redshifts, line widths, and structure for ~5,000 galaxies, using HST imaging data, and going ~ 1 magnitude deeper into the luminosity function than the 1HS. Faber, Davis, and collaborators will use the data to determine fundamental properties of galaxies at Z~1 such as: number densities, the galaxy correlation function, and clustering statistics as a function of galaxy type. They will also use the data from the 3HS to determine the dark halo masses and underlying dark matter distribution at this redshift, as well as the "biasing function." This collaborative project supports a 120 night observing program on the Keck telescope in Hawaii that will garner spectroscopic data on approximately 60,000 faint galaxies, with the goal of elucidating the properties of faint, distant galaxies, as well as the statistics of their spatialdistribution. The DEEP survey will provide an unprecedented, detailed look at the universe at cosmologically significant lookback times. The survey will generate information on high redshift galaxies and their environment that is comparable in quality to data currently available for nearby galaxies. This dataset, which will be made Web accessible to the broader community, willenable powerful tests of the evolutionary predictions of alternative cosmological models. By counting the abundance of galaxies versus measured redshift, one can precisely determine the acceleration rate of the expansion of the Universe, a test of fundamental physics. The DEEP survey will take full advantage of a new spectrograph being prepared for the Keck telescope, DEIMOS, which has a large field of view, high spectral resolution, and wide spectralcoverage. The scientific program of the DEEP survey cannot be replicated efficiently on any other instrument or telescope worldwide. Funding for this project was provided by the NSF program for Extragalactic Astronomy & Cosmology (AST/EXC) and the MPS Office of Multidisciplinary Activities.***