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Nature 437, 519-521 (22 September 2005) | doi:10.1038/nature03979; Received 26 April 2005; Accepted 29 June 2005

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A large population of galaxies 9 to 12 billion years back in the history of the Universe

O. Le Fèvre1, S. Paltani1, S. Arnouts1, S. Charlot2,3, S. Foucaud4, O. Ilbert1,5, H. J. McCracken3,12, G. Zamorani6, D. Bottini4, B. Garilli4, V. Le Brun1, D. Maccagni4, J. P. Picat7, R. Scaramella8, M. Scodeggio4, L. Tresse1, G. Vettolani8, A. Zanichelli8, C. Adami1, S. Bardelli6, M. Bolzonella5, A. Cappi6, P. Ciliegi6, T. Contini7, P. Franzetti4, I. Gavignaud7,9, L. Guzzo10, A. Iovino10, B. Marano5, C. Marinoni10, A. Mazure1, B. Meneux1, R. Merighi6, R. Pellò7, A. Pollo10, L. Pozzetti6, M. Radovich11, E. Zucca6, M. Arnaboldi11, M. Bondi8, A. Bongiorno5, G. Busarello11, L. Gregorini8, F. Lamareille7, G. Mathez7, Y. Mellier3,12, P. Merluzzi11, V. Ripepi11 & D. Rizzo7

  1. Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, OAMP, UMR6110, CNRS, Université de Provence Aix-Marseille I, BP8, F-13376 Marseille cedex 12, France
  2. Max Planck Institut fur Astrophysik, D-85741 Garching, Germany
  3. Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095, 98 bis Bvd Arago, F-75014 Paris, France
  4. IASF-INAF, via Bassini 15, I-20133, Milano, Italy
  5. Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Astronomia, via Ranzani 1, I-40127, Bologna, Italy
  6. INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, I-40127, Bologna, Italy
  7. Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (UMR 5572), 14 avenue E. Belin, F-31400 Toulouse, France
  8. IRA-INAF, via Gobetti 101, I-40129, Bologna, Italy
  9. European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany
  10. INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via Brera 28, Milan, Italy
  11. INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, via Moiariello 16, I-80131, Napoli, Italy
  12. Observatoire de Paris, LERMA, 61 Avenue de l'Observatoire, F-75014 Paris, France

Correspondence to: O. Le Fèvre1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to O.L.F. (Email: Olivier.LeFevre@oamp.fr).

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To understand the evolution of galaxies, we need to know as accurately as possible how many galaxies were present in the Universe at different epochs1. Galaxies in the young Universe have hitherto mainly been identified using their expected optical colours2, 3, 4, but this leaves open the possibility that a significant population remains undetected because their colours are the result of a complex mix of stars, gas, dust or active galactic nuclei. Here we report the results of a flux-limited I-band survey of galaxies at look-back times of 9 to 12 billion years. We find 970 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts between 1.4 and 5. This population is 1.6 to 6.2 times larger than previous estimates2, 3, 4, with the difference increasing towards brighter magnitudes. Strong ultraviolet continua (in the rest frame of the galaxies) indicate vigorous star formation rates of more than 10–100 solar masses per year. As a consequence, the cosmic star formation rate representing the volume-averaged production of stars is higher than previously measured at redshifts of 3 to 4.

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