# Untitled Document

PHOTOMETRY AND PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS OF GALAXIES IN THE HUBBLE DEEP FIELD SOUTH NICMOS FIELD

We present an electronic catalog of infrared and optical photometry and photometric redshifts of 323 galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field South NICMOS field at http://www.ess.sunysb.edu/astro/hdfs/home.html. The analysis is based on infrared images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope using the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrograph and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph together with optical images obtained with the Very Large Telescope. The infrared and optical photometry is measured by means of a new quasi-optimal photometric technique that fits model spatial profiles of the galaxies determined by Pixon image reconstruction techniques to the images. In comparison with conventional methods, the new technique provides higher signal-to-noise-ratio measurements and accounts for uncertainty correlations between nearby, overlapping neighbors. The photometric redshifts are measured by means of our redshift likelihood technique, incorporating six spectrophotometric templates which, by comparison with spectroscopic redshifts of galaxies identified in the Hubble Deep Field North, are known to provide redshift measurements accurate to within an RMS relative uncertainty of $`\mathrm{\Delta }z/(1+z)<0.1`$ at all redshifts $`z<6`$. The analysis reaches a peak $`H`$-band sensitivity threshold of $`AB(16000)=28.3`$ and covers 1.02 arcmin<sup>2</sup> to $`AB(16000)=27`$, 1.27 arcmin<sup>2</sup> to $`AB(16000)=26`$, and 1.44 arcmin<sup>2</sup> to $`AB(16000)=25`$. The analysis identifies galaxies at redshifts ranging from $`z0`$ through $`z>10`$, including 17 galaxies of redshift $`5<z<10`$ and five candidate galaxies of redshift $`z>10`$. (The redshift likelihood functions are given, allowing high-redshift galaxies with sharply peaked redshift likelihood functions to be distinguished from candidate high-redshift galaxies with broad or bimodal redshift likelihood functions.) The analysis can also be used to establish firm upper limits to the surface densities of galaxies as a function of brightness and redshift to redshifts as large as $`z=14`$.