Aims. We present and release photometric redshifts for a uniquely large and deep sample of 522286 objects with i AB ≤ 25 in the Canada-France Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) "Deep Survey" fields D1, D2, D3, and D4, which cover a total effective area of 3.2 deg 2 . Methods. We use 3241 spectroscopic redshifts with 0 ≤ z ≤ 5 from the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey (VVDS) as a calibration and training set to derive these photometric redshifts. Using the "Le Phare" photometric redshift code, we developed a robust calibration method based on an iterative zero-point refinement combined with a template optimisation procedure and the application of a Bayesian approach. This method removes systematic trends in the photometric redshifts and significantly reduces the fraction of catastrophic errors (by a factor of 2), a significant improvement over traditional methods. We use our unique spectroscopic sample to present a detailed assessment of the robustness of the photometric redshift sample. Results. For a sample selected at i AB ≤ 24, we reach a redshift accuracy of σ ∆z/(1+z) = 0.029 with η = 3.8% of catastrophic errors (η is defined strictly as those objects with |∆z|/(1 + z) > 0.15). The reliability of our photometric redshifts decreases for faint objects: we find σ ∆z/(1+z) = 0.025, 0.034 and η = 1.9%, 5.5% for samples selected at i AB = 17.5-22.5 and 22.5-24 respectively. We find that the photometric redshifts of starburst galaxies are less reliable: although these galaxies represent only 22% of the spectroscopic sample, they are responsible for 50% of the catastrophic errors. An analysis as a function of redshift demonstrates that our photometric redshifts work best in the redshift range 0.2 ≤ z ≤ 1.5. We find an excellent agreement between the photometric and the VVDS spectroscopic redshift distributions at i AB ≤ 24. Finally, we compare the redshift distributions of i selected galaxies on the four CFHTLS deep fields, showing that cosmic variance is still present on fields of 0.7-0.9 deg 2 . These photometric redshifts are made publicly available at http://terapix.iap.fr (complete ascii catalogues) and http://cencos.oamp.fr/cencos/CFHTLS/ (searchable database interface).Key words. galaxies: distances and redshifts -galaxies: photometry -methods: data analysis Article published by EDP Sciences and available at http://www.edpsciences.org/aa or http://dx

We present a detailed analysis of the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function (GSMF) of galaxies up to z = 2.5 as obtained from the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey (VVDS). Our survey offers the possibility to investigate the GSMF using two different samples: (1) an optical (I-selected 17.5 < I AB < 24) main spectroscopic sample of about 6500 galaxies over 1750 arcmin 2 and (2) a near-IR (K-selected K AB < 22.34 and K AB < 22.84) sample of about 10 200 galaxies, with photometric redshifts accurately calibrated on the VVDS spectroscopic sample, over 610 arcmin 2 . We apply and compare two different methods to estimate the stellar mass M stars from broad-band photometry based on different assumptions about the galaxy star-formation history. We find that the accuracy of the photometric stellar mass is satisfactory overall, and show that the addition of secondary bursts to a continuous star formation history produces systematically higher (up to 40%) stellar masses. We derive the cosmic evolution of the GSMF, the galaxy number density and the stellar mass density in different mass ranges. At low redshift (z 0.2) we find a substantial population of low-mass galaxies (<10 9 M ) composed of faint blue galaxies (M I − M K 0.3). In general the stellar mass function evolves slowly up to z ∼ 0.9 and more rapidly above this redshift, in particular for low mass systems. Conversely, a massive population is present up to z = 2.5 and has extremely red colours (M I − M K 0.7-0.8). We find a decline with redshift of the overall number density of galaxies for all masses (59 ± 5% for M stars > 10 8 M at z = 1), and a mild mass-dependent average evolution ("mass-downsizing"). In particular our data are consistent with mild/negligible (<30%) evolution up to z ∼ 0.7 for massive galaxies (>6 × 10 10 M ). For less massive systems the no-evolution scenario is excluded. Specifically, a large fraction (≥50%) of massive galaxies have been assembled and converted most of their gas into stars at z ∼ 1, ruling out "dry mergers" as the major mechanism of their assembly history below z 1. This fraction decreases to ∼33% at z ∼ 2. Low-mass systems have decreased continuously in number density (by a factor of up to 4.1 ± 0.9) from the present age to z = 2, consistent with a prolonged mass assembly also at z < 1. The evolution of the stellar mass density is relatively slow with redshift, with a decrease of a factor of 2.3 ± 0.1 at z = 1 and about 4.5 ± 0.3 at z = 2.5.

Abstract.We have conducted a deep survey (rms noise 17 µJy) with the Very Large Array (VLA) at 1.4 GHz, with a resolution of 6 arcsec, of a 1 deg 2 region included in the VIRMOS VLT Deep Survey. In the same field we already have multiband photometry down to I AB = 25, and spectroscopic observations will be obtained during the VIRMOS VLT survey. The homogeneous sensitivity over the whole field has allowed to derive a complete sample of 1054 radio sources (5σ limit). We give a detailed description of the data reduction and of the analysis of the radio observations, with particular care to the effects of clean bias and bandwidth smearing, and of the methods used to obtain the catalogue of radio sources. To estimate the effect of the resolution bias on our observations we have modelled the effective angular-size distribution of the sources in our sample and we have used this distribution to simulate a sample of radio sources. Finally we present the radio count distribution down to 0.08 mJy derived from the catalogue. Our counts are in good agreement with the best fit derived from earlier surveys, and are about 50% higher than the counts in the HDF. The radio count distribution clearly shows, with extremely good statistics, the change in the slope for the sub-mJy radio sources.