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| ZFOURGE | |
|---|---|
| Name | ZFOURGE |
| Type | Deep near-infrared imaging survey |
| Wavelength | Near-infrared (Ks, J1, J2, J3), optical ancillary |
| Telescopes | Magellan Clay Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Subaru Telescope, Keck Observatory |
| Fields | COSMOS field, CANDELS, GOODS-South, UKIDSS UDS, ECDFS |
| Startdate | 2011 |
| Status | Completed / legacy catalogs |
ZFOURGE.
ZFOURGE is a deep near-infrared imaging survey that produced medium-band photometry and catalogs to trace galaxy evolution across cosmic time. It provided rest-frame optical sampling for galaxies at redshifts z≈1–4, enabling measurements of stellar masses, star-formation histories, and photometric redshifts used widely by teams studying galaxy formation. The survey products have been used in analyses connected to high-redshift galaxy populations, large extragalactic legacy fields, and multiwavelength follow-up campaigns.
ZFOURGE targeted major extragalactic survey fields associated with CANDELS, COSMOS field, GOODS-South, UKIDSS UDS, Extended Chandra Deep Field-South, and overlapping programs such as 3D-HST, SIMPLE, S-CANDELS, providing calibrated photometry tied to imaging from Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, Herschel Space Observatory, and ground-based facilities. The survey strategy built upon prior efforts including NMBS, UltraVISTA, UKIDSS, and VIKING, aiming to improve photometric redshift precision used by teams studying the evolution of stellar mass functions, the quenching of galaxies, and the buildup of galaxy structure. ZFOURGE data were incorporated into analyses leveraging spectroscopy from VIMOS, MOSFIRE, DEIMOS, and FORS2.
ZFOURGE used medium-band near-infrared filters deployed on the FourStar instrument on the Magellan Baade Telescope/Magellan Clay Telescope to observe fields with extensive ancillary data from Subaru Telescope Suprime-Cam, VLT/HAWK-I, and CFHT imaging. The strategy emphasized depth and medium-band resolution in filters J1, J2, J3 and Ks to improve photometric redshift accuracy for sources also detected in HST WFC3/IR and ACS programs like GOODS, CANDELS, and COSMOS-DASH. Observing campaigns coordinated with time allocation from institutions including Carnegie Observatories, Leiden Observatory, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and University of Texas at Austin teams to obtain multi-epoch coverage and ensure overlap with spectroscopic surveys such as 3D-HST, zCOSMOS, VVDS, and DEEP2.
Raw ZFOURGE frames were processed using pipelines that incorporated algorithms from projects like SExtractor-based detection schemes, PSF homogenization methods similar to those used by GALFIT users, and photometric calibration tied to catalogs from 2MASS, SDSS, and UKIDSS. Catalogs include multiwavelength photometry cross-matched with HST catalogs from CANDELS and IRAC photometry from Spitzer Space Telescope. Photometric redshifts were estimated using codes such as EAZY and spectral energy distribution fitting performed with tools including FAST and population synthesis models from Bruzual & Charlot, Maraston, and FSPS (Flexible Stellar Population Synthesis). Ancillary photometry from GALEX, Herschel, ALMA, and VLA was merged to produce catalogs used in studies of star formation and dust attenuation.
ZFOURGE enabled precise photometric redshifts that improved constraints on the galaxy stellar mass function at 1
The survey applied medium-band SED sampling to reduce degeneracies in photometric redshift space, leveraging template libraries and priors used by EAZY and stellar population synthesis codes like Bruzual & Charlot and Maraston. PSF matching and deblending methods were adapted from workflows used in CANDELS and 3D-HST to combine HST and ground-based imaging; photometric error characterization followed practices established by SExtractor and simulation approaches used in HST legacy analyses. Studies using ZFOURGE employed Bayesian inference techniques similar to those in BEAGLE and Monte Carlo sampling applied in works associated with Le PHARE and CIGALE for deriving star-formation histories, dust attenuation laws, and stellar mass estimates.
ZFOURGE was produced by collaborations among institutions and researchers affiliated with Carnegie Observatories, University of Texas at Austin, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Leiden Observatory, University of Copenhagen, and observational teams connected to Magellan. Its catalogs have been incorporated into multi-survey meta-analyses alongside datasets from CANDELS, 3D-HST, UltraVISTA, COSMOS, GOODS, and UKIDSS, and informed subsequent programs such as follow-up proposals with ALMA, JWST, and ground-based spectrographs including MOSFIRE and KMOS. The legacy includes widely used photometric catalogs, methodology papers cited by studies of galaxy evolution, and public data releases that have supported work by groups at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Leiden Observatory.
The core instrument for ZFOURGE was FourStar on the Magellan Clay Telescope with medium-band filters J1, J2, J3 and broad Ks, complemented by imaging from HST WFC3/IR, HST ACS, Spitzer IRAC, and ground-based imaging from Subaru Telescope, VLT, and CFHT. Fields observed include overlap with major extragalactic survey regions like COSMOS field, GOODS-South, and UKIDSS UDS, enabling synergies with spectroscopic programs such as zCOSMOS, DEEP2, VVDS, and MOSDEF. The combination of instrument capabilities and strategic field selection provided medium-band depth over key legacy areas used by the extragalactic community.
Category:Astronomical surveys