Published in "The Hubble Deep Field", eds. M. Livio, S.M. Fall and P. Madau 1998
Abstract. We have used the NRAO Very Large Array at 8.5 GHz to image the Hubble Deep Field and surrounding flanking fields. Twenty-eight sources were catalogued above a limiting flux density ranging from 9.0 µJy at the center of the VLA primary beam to 112 µJy at 4.6 arc minutes from the field center. Seven of these sources lie within the boundaries of the Hubble Deep Field. All are identified with galaxies brighter than IAB = 21.2. An additional six galaxies, all brighter than IAB = 23.1 in the HDF have radio emission somewhat below the completeness level of our radio catalogue. All but one of the 21 sources laying outside the HDF, are covered by sensitive ground based optical imaging. Sixteen of these are identified with galaxies brighter than R = 25.5. There are no identifications with stars or quasars. The optical counterparts of the microjansky radio sources are a mixture of early type galaxies and merging or interacting galaxies undergoing intense star-formation, along with AGN, primarily in elliptical galaxies but also possibly associated with a few spirals (LINERS and Seyferts). The optical counterparts have redshifts spread over the range from zero to two, with radio luminosities ranging between 1019 W/Hz and 1024 Watts/Hz. The slope of the integral radio source count for the 28 sources in the 6 x 10-6 sr region included in our primary beam is -1.0 ± 0.2, comparable to that found in other deep surveys to this level.
Table of Contents