We present the quantitative rest-frame B morphological evolution and galaxy merger fraction at 0:2 < z < 1:2 as observed by the All-Wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS). We use the Gini coefficient and M 20 to identify major mergers and classify galaxy morphology for a volume-limited sample of 3009 galaxies brighter than 0:4L Ã B , assuming pure luminosity evolution. We find that the merger fraction remains roughly constant at 10% AE 2% for 0:2 < z < 1:2. The fraction of E/S0/Sa galaxies increases from 21% AE 3% at z $ 1:1 to 44% AE 9% at z $ 0:3, while the fraction of SbYIr galaxies decreases from 64% AE 6% at z $ 1:1 to 47% AE 9% at z $ 0:3. The majority of z < 1:2 Spitzer MIPS 24 m sources with L( IR) > 10 11 L are disk galaxies, and only $15% are classified as major merger candidates. Edge-on and dusty disk galaxies (SbYIr) are almost a third of the red sequence at z $ 1:1, while E/S0/Sa make up over 90% of the red sequence at z $ 0:3. Approximately 2% of our full sample are red mergers. We conclude (1) the merger rate does not evolve strongly between 0:2 < z < 1:2; (2) the decrease in the volumeaveraged star formation rate density since z $ 1 is a result of declining star formation in disk galaxies rather than a disappearing population of major mergers; (3) the build-up of the red sequence at z < 1 can be explained by a doubling in the number of spheroidal galaxies since z $ 1:2.

We present data products from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS). CFHTLenS is based on the Wide component of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS). It encompasses 154 deg 2 of deep, optical, high-quality, sub-arcsecond imaging data in the five optical filters u * g r i z . The scientific aims of the CFHTLenS team are weak gravitational lensing studies supported by photometric redshift estimates for the galaxies. The article presents our data processing of the complete CFHTLenS data set. We were able to obtain a data set with very good image quality and high-quality astrometric and photometric calibration. Our external astrometric accuracy is between 60-70 mas with respect to SDSS data and the internal alignment in all filters is around 30 mas. Our average photometric calibration shows a dispersion on the order of 0.01 to 0.03 mag for g r i z and about 0.04 mag for u * with respect to SDSS sources down to i SDSS 21. We demonstrate in accompanying articles that our data meet necessary requirements to fully exploit the survey for weak gravitational lensing analyses in connection with photometric redshift studies. In the spirit of the CFHTLS all our data products are released to the astronomical community via the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre at http://www.cadc-ccda.hia-iha. nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/community/CFHTLens/query.html. We give a description and how-to manuals of the public products which include image pixel data, source catalogues with photometric redshift estimates and all relevant quantities to perform weak lensing studies.

The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) is a program that uses the 1 deg 2 MegaCam instrument on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope to carry out a comprehensive optical imaging survey of the Virgo cluster, from its core to its virial radius-covering a total area of 104 deg 2-in the u * griz bandpasses. Thanks to a dedicated data acquisition strategy and processing pipeline, the NGVS reaches a point-source depth of g ≈ 25.9 mag (10σ) and a surface brightness limit of μ g ∼ 29 mag arcsec −2 (2σ above the mean sky level), thus superseding all previous optical studies of this benchmark galaxy cluster. In this paper, we give an overview of the technical aspects of the survey, such as areal coverage, field placement, choice of filters, limiting magnitudes, observing strategies, data processing and calibration pipelines, survey timeline, and data products. We also describe the primary scientific topics of the NGVS, which include: the galaxy luminosity and mass functions; the color-magnitude relation; galaxy scaling relations; compact stellar systems; galactic nuclei; the extragalactic distance scale; the large-scale environment of the cluster and its relationship to the Local Supercluster; diffuse light and the intracluster medium; galaxy interactions and evolutionary processes; and extragalactic star clusters. In addition, we describe a number of ancillary programs dealing with "foreground" and "background" science topics, including the study of highinclination trans-Neptunian objects; the structure of the Galactic halo in the direction of the Virgo Overdensity and Sagittarius Stream; the measurement of cosmic shear, galaxy-galaxy, and cluster lensing; and the identification of distant galaxy clusters, and strong-lensing events.

We report the discovery of three large (R 29 1 ) extremely low surface brightness (µ V,0 ≈ 27.0) galaxies identified using our deep, wide-field imaging of the Virgo Cluster from the Burrell Schmidt telescope. Complementary data from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey do not resolve red giant branch stars in these objects down to i = 24, yielding a lower distance limit of 2.5 Mpc. At the Virgo distance, these objects have half-light radii 3-10 kpc and luminosities L V = 2 − 9 × 10 7 L . These galaxies are comparable in size but lower in surface brightness than the large ultradiffuse LSB galaxies recently identified in the Coma cluster, and are located well within Virgo's virial radius; two are projected directly on the cluster core. One object appears to be a nucleated LSB in the process of being tidally stripped to form a new Virgo ultracompact dwarf galaxy. The others show no sign of tidal disruption, despite the fact that such objects should be most vulnerable to tidal destruction in the cluster environment. The relative proximity of Virgo makes these objects amenable to detailed studies of their structural properties and resolved stellar populations. They thus provide an important new window onto the connection between cluster environment and galaxy evolution at the extremes.

In this the first of a series of Letters, we present a panchromatic data set in the Extended Groth Strip region of the sky. Our survey, the All-Wavelength Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS), aims to study the physical properties and evolutionary processes of galaxies at . It includes the following deep, wide-field imaging data sets: z ∼ 1 Chandra/ACIS X-ray, GALEX ultraviolet, CFHT/MegaCam Legacy Survey optical, CFHT/CFH12K optical, Hubble Space Telescope/ACS optical and NICMOS near-infrared, Palomar/WIRC near-infrared, Spitzer/IRAC mid-infrared, Spitzer/MIPS far-infrared, and VLA radio continuum. In addition, this region of the sky has been targeted for extensive spectroscopy using the Deep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph (DEIMOS) on the Keck II 10 m telescope. Our survey is compared to other large multiwavelength surveys in terms of depth and sky coverage.

The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) has become a cornerstone of extragalactic astronomy. Since the last public catalog in 2015, a wealth of new imaging and spectroscopic data have been collected in the COSMOS field. This paper describes the collection, processing, and analysis of these new imaging data to produce a new reference photometric redshift catalog. Source detection and multiwavelength photometry are performed for 1.7 million sources across the 2 deg2 of the COSMOS field, ∼966,000 of which are measured with all available broadband data using both traditional aperture photometric methods and a new profile-fitting photometric extraction tool, The Farmer, which we have developed. A detailed comparison of the two resulting photometric catalogs is presented. Photometric redshifts are computed for all sources in each catalog utilizing two independent photometric redshift codes. Finally, a comparison is made between the performance of the photometric methodologies and of the redshift codes to demonstrate an exceptional degree of self-consistency in the resulting photometric redshifts. The i < 21 sources have subpercent photometric redshift accuracy and even the faintest sources at 25 < i < 27 reach a precision of 5%. Finally, these results are discussed in the context of previous, current, and future surveys in the COSMOS field. Compared to COSMOS2015, it reaches the same photometric redshift precision at almost one magnitude deeper. Both photometric catalogs and their photometric redshift solutions and physical parameters will be made available through the usual astronomical archive systems (ESO Phase 3, IPAC-IRSA, and CDS).

We present the first cosmic shear measurements obtained from the T0001 release of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. The data set covers three uncorrelated patches (D1, D3 and D4) of one square degree each, observed in u * , g , r , i and z bands, to a depth of i = 25.5. The deep, multi-colour observations in these fields allow for several data-quality controls. The lensing signal is detected in both r and i bands and shows similar amplitude and slope in both filters. B-modes are found to be statistically zero at all scales. Using multi-colour information, we derived a photometric redshift for each galaxy and use this to separate the background source sample into low-z and high-z subsamples. A stronger shear signal is detected from the high-z subsample than from the low-z subsample, as expected from weak lensing tomography. While further work is needed to model the effects of errors in the photometric redshifts, this result suggests that it will be possible to obtain constraints on the growth of dark matter fluctuations with lensing wide field surveys. The combined Deep and Wide surveys give σ 8 = 0.89 ± 0.06 assuming the Peacock & Dodds non-linear scheme (P&D), and σ 8 = 0.86 ± 0.05 for the halo model and Ω m = 0.3. We assumed a Cold Dark Matter model with flat geometry and have marginalized over the systematics, the Hubble constant and redshift uncertainties. Using data from the Deep survey, the 1σ upper bound for w 0 , the constant equation of state parameter is w 0 < −0.8.

We report on a large-scale study of the distribution of globular clusters (GCs) throughout the Virgo cluster, based on photometry from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS), a large imaging survey covering Virgo's primary subclusters (Virgo A=M87 and Virgo B=M49) out to their virial radii. Using the g o , (g − i ) o color-magnitude diagram of unresolved and marginally resolved sources within the NGVS, we have constructed 2-D maps of the (irregular) GC distribution over 100 square degrees to a depth of g o =24. We present the clearest evidence to date showing the difference in concentration between red and blue GCs over the full extent of the cluster, where the red (more metal-rich) GCs are largely located around the massive early-type galaxies in Virgo, while the blue (metal-poor) GCs have a much more extended spatial distribution, with significant populations still present beyond 83' (∼ 215 kpc) along the major axes of both M49 and M87. A comparison of our GC maps to the diffuse light in the outermost regions of M49 and M87 show remarkable agreement in the shape, ellipticity, and boxiness of both luminous systems. We also find evidence for spatial enhancements of GCs surrounding M87 that may be indicative of recent interactions or an ongoing merger history. We compare the GC map to that of the locations of Virgo galaxies and the X-ray intracluster gas, and find generally good agreement between these various baryonic structures. We calculate the Virgo cluster contains a total population of N GC = 67, 300 ± 14, 400, of which 35% are located in M87 and M49 alone. For the first time, we compute a cluster-wide specific frequency S N,CL = 2.8 ± 0.7, after correcting for Virgo's diffuse light. We also find a GC-to-baryonic mass fraction b = 5.7 ± 1.1 × 10 −4 and a GC-to-total cluster mass formation efficiency t = 2.9±0.5×10 −5 , the latter values slightly lower than, but consistent with, those derived for individual galactic halos. Taken as a whole, our results show that the production of the complex structures in the unrelaxed Virgo cluster core (including the production of the diffuse intracluster light) is an ongoing and continuing process.