The Deep Optical Imaging of the Extended Groth Strip

TL;DR

This paper presents deep optical imaging data of the Extended Groth Strip, identifying a large sample of candidate Lyman Break Galaxies at redshift around 3, with detailed calibration and survey parameters.

Contribution

It provides new deep optical images and a substantial sample of LBG candidates, improving upon previous surveys in coverage and galaxy density estimation.

Findings

Sample of 1642 LBG candidates identified

Average sky surface density of LBGs is ~1.0 arcmin$^{-2}$

Survey covers about 1 square degree with optimized methods

Abstract

We present $u'g'R$ optical images taken with the MMT/Megacam and the Subaru/Suprime of the Extended Groth Strip survey. The total survey covers an area of about $\sim 1$ degree$^2$, including four sub-fields and is optimized for the study of galaxies at $z\sim3$. Our methods for photometric calibration in AB magnitudes, the limiting magnitude and the galaxy number count are described. A sample of 1642 photometrically selected candidate LBGs to an apparent $R_{AB}$ magnitude limit of 25.0 is present. The average sky surface density of our LBGs sample is $\sim$ 1.0 arcmin$^{-2}$, slightly higher than the previous finding.