THE CANADA-FRANCE REDSHIFT SURVEY III: "Single Emission Line" Objects, Analysis of Repeat Observations, and Spectroscopic Identifications in the 1415+52 and 2215+00 Fields

Abstract

This paper is one of a series describing the Canada-France Redshift Survey (CFRS). It is shown how the shape of the continuum around the emission line can be used to distinguish between [OII] 3727 at z > 0.76 and H$\alpha$ at low redshift in spectra for which only a single isolated emission line is visible. Based on this, [OII] 3727 is most likely to be the emission line in most of the single emission line galaxies in the CFRS. The statistics of the repeated observations are analyzed to derive an empirical calibration of the reliability of the spectroscopic identifications in the CFRS, to determine how often additional observations could lead to the identification of an initially unidentified object and to provide an estimate of the internal velocity accuracy. Finally, the results of spectroscopic observations of 413 objects in the 1415+52 and 2215+00 CFRS survey fields are presented.