VANDELS: a deep VIMOS survey of the Candels UDS and CDFS fields

Abstract

VANDELS is a spectroscopic VIMOS public survey of the Candels UDS and CDFS fields aimed at exploring the high-z Universe. VANDELS, contrary to previous spectroscopic surveys, is designed to move beyond redshift acquisition, obtaining spectra with high enough signal-to-noise to derive galaxies' physical parameters e.g. metallicities and velocity offsets, from the very early phases when the Universe was still partly neutral (z∼7) to the epoch when the peak of the star-formation occurred (z∼2). To this end, integration times of 20hrsint<80 hrs have been planned. VANDELS will have an important legacy value to the astronomy community. All raw data will be immediately public on the ESO archive, while the reduced 1D and 2D spectra will be made available ∼9 months after observations. VANDELS pushes today's instrumentations opening the road towards our understanding of high-z galaxy physics. The findings will drive future observations, e.g. providing z=3-5 targets for detailed IFU observations using E-ELT.