Deep imaging of the field of the Z = 4.9 quasar PC 1247+3406, and faint galaxy counts in the K band with the Keck telescope

Abstract

We present deep images in the K. band of the field of the quasar PC 1247 + 3406 at z = 4.897, obtained using the near-infrared camera on the W. M. Keck telescope. A number of faint sources have been detected, some of which appear to be quite red. Their nature and redshifts remain uncertain at this time. These data are combined with deep Keck infrared images of five additional fields and present galaxy counts reaching down to K_s = 22 mag, comparable to the deepest K-band surveys to date. The data presented here are in good agreement with the Hawaii Deep Survey and represent the first independent verification of those results. The slope of the log N-log S relation derived from these data agrees well with the Hawaii Deep Survey, while the counts are slightly higher, especially at the faintest levels probed here. This may be due to a presence of groups or clusters around the target objects at high redshifts.

Additional Information

© 1994 American Astronomical Society. Received 1993 August 5; accepted 1993 October 12. The W. M. Keck Observatory is operated as a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology and the University of California. It was made possible by the generous gift of the W. M. Keck Foundation, and the support of its president, Howard Keck. We are most grateful for their visionary endowment that has made possible the first of the next generation of telescopes. It is a pleasure to also thank all of the many devoted people whose unflagging efforts have made possible the success of the W. M. Keck Observatory. We thank L. Cowie and Ester Hu for useful discussions and comments on the manuscript. Infrared astronomy at Caltech is supported in part by grants from the NSF and NASA.

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Published - 1994ApJ___420L___1S.pdf

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