The ESO-Sculptor Faint Galaxy Survey: Large-Scale Structure and Galaxy Populations at 0.1 < z < 0.5

Abstract

We describe the current status of the ESO-Sculptor Survey. The observational goal has been to produce a new multi-color photometric catalogue of galaxies in a region located near the southern galactic pole, complemented by a spectroscopic survey. The primary scientific objectives are (1) to map the spatial distribution of galaxies at 0.1 < z < 0.5 and (2) to provide a database for studying the variations in the spectro-photometric properties of distant galaxies as a function of redshift and local environment. The photometric survey provides total magnitudes in the bands B, V (Johnson) and R (Cousins) to limiting magnitudes of 24.5, 24.0, 23.5 respectively. To these limits, the catalog contains about 9500, 12150, 13000 galaxies in B, V, R bands respectively and is the first large digital multi-colour photometric catalog at this depth. This photometric survey provides the entry catalog for a fully-sampled redshift survey of ~ 700 galaxies with R < 20.5. Here, we describe the characteristics of the photometric and spectroscopic samples of the ESO-Sculptor, and report the results obtained so far on the large-scale structure, the spectral classification, and the luminosity function.