Sebastien Foucaud (University of Nottingham)

Title: UKIDSS-UDS: Formation and evolution of massive galaxies

Abstract:

UKIDSS is the next generation near-infrared sky survey using the WFCAM
at UKIRT, and began in Spring 2005. Comprising 5 sub-surveys, it will
take 7 years to complete and cover a wide range of areas and depths. I
will present the deepest of these, the Ultra-Deep Survey (UDS) which
aims to cover 0.8 sq degrees to a depth of K=23, H=24, J=25 (Vega). I
will detail the dedicated data reduction procedure that we used and
differs partialy from the other UKIDSS survey. I will describe also
the most recent data set that is available for the ESO community. The
UDS is a fully multi-wavelength survey and I will list and describe
some of the associated surveys, focusing on the recent spectroscopic
follow up awarded to us using VIMOS and FORS VLT facilities.  Finaly,
I will introduce the most recent work I am leading thanks to this
survey, to describe the properties of very massive galaxies at 1<z<2
and derive conclusions on the formation and evolution of the most
massive galaxies found since the early age of our universe.