Published by
EDP Sciences
EDP Sciences Journals List
Subscriber Authentication Point
Home All issues Volume 418/ 3 Article
Free access
Issue A&A
Volume 418, Number 3, May II 2004
Page(s) 885 - 906
Section Extragalactic astronomy
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20034434



A&A 418, 885-906 (2004)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20034434

The FORS Deep Field spectroscopic survey

S. Noll1, D. Mehlert1, I. Appenzeller1, R. Bender2, A. Böhm3, A. Gabasch2, J. Heidt1, U. Hopp2, K. Jäger3, S. Seitz2, O. Stahl1, C. Tapken1 and B. L. Ziegler3

1  Landessternwarte Heidelberg, Königstuhl, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
2  Universitätssternwarte München, Scheinerstraße 1, 81679 München, Germany
3  Universitäts-Sternwarte Göttingen, Geismarlandstraße 11, 37083 Göttingen, Germany

(Received 2 October 2003 / Accepted 30 January 2004 )

Abstract
We present a catalogue and atlas of low-resolution spectra of a well defined sample of 341 objects in the FORS Deep Field. All spectra were obtained with the FORS instruments at the ESO VLT with essentially the same spectroscopic set-up. The observed extragalactic objects cover the redshift range 0.1 to 5.0. 98 objects are starburst galaxies and QSOs at z > 2. Using this data set we investigated the evolution of the characteristic spectral properties of bright starburst galaxies and their mutual relations as a function of redshift. Significant evolutionary effects were found for redshifts 2 < z < 4. Most conspicuous are the increase of the average C IV absorption strength, of the dust reddening, and of the intrinsic UV luminosity, and the decrease of the average Ly $\alpha$ emission strength with decreasing redshift. In part the observed evolutionary effects can be attributed to an increase of the metallicity of the galaxies with cosmic age. Moreover, the increase of the total star-formation rates and the stronger obscuration of the starburst cores by dusty gas clouds suggest the occurrence of more massive starbursts at later cosmic epochs.


Key words: galaxies: high-redshift -- galaxies: starburst -- galaxies: fundamental parameters -- galaxies: evolution

Offprint request: S. Noll, snoll@lsw.uni-heidelberg.de

SIMBAD Objects
Tables at the CDS



© ESO 2004

What is OpenURL?

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.
  • If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
  • You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
  • You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.