A Ks-band-selected catalogue of objects in the ALHAMBRA survey
Nieves-Seoane, L. et. al. ; The original ALHAMBRA catalogue contained over 400 000 galaxies selected using a synthetic F814W image, to the magnitude limit AB(F814W) ≈ 24.5. Given the photometric redshift depth of the ALHAMBRA multiband data (〈 z〉 = 0.86) and the approximately I-band selection, there is a noticeable bias against red objects at moderate redshift.We avoid this bias by creating a new catalogue selected in the Ks band. This newly obtained catalogue is certainly shallower in terms of apparent magnitude, but deeper in terms of redshift, with a significant population of red objects at z > 1. We select objects using the Ks band images, which reach an approximate AB magnitude limit Ks ≈ 22. We generate masks and derive completeness functions to characterize the sample. We have tested the quality of the photometry and photometric redshifts using both internal and external checks. Our final catalogue includes ≈95 000 sources down to Ks ≈ 22, with a significant tail towards high redshift. We have checked that there is a large sample of objects with spectral energy distributions that correspond to that of massive, passively evolving galaxies at z > 1, reaching as far as z ≈ 2.5. We have tested the possibility of combining our data with deep infrared observations at longer wavelengths, particularly Spitzer IRAC data. © 2016 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. ; This work was mainly supported by the Spanish Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER funds through grants AYA2010-22111-C03-02 and AYA2013-48623-C2-2, and by the Generalitat Valenciana through project PrometeoII 2014/060. We also acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER funds through grants AYA2012-39620, AYA2013-40611-P, AYA2013-42227-P, AYA2013-43188-P, AYA2013-48623-C2-1, ESP2013-48274, AYA2014-58861-C3-1, Junta de Andalucia grants TIC114, JA2828, P10-FQM-6444, and Generalitat de Catalunya project SGR-1398. BA has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 656354. PTI acknowledges support from CONICYT Chile grant FONDECYT 3140542. ; Peer reviewed