The AstroSat UV deep field north: direct determination of the UV luminosity function and its evolution from z ~ 0.8–0.4.

We characterize the evolution of the rest-frame 1500 Å UV luminosity function (UVLF) from AstroSat/UVIT F154W and N242W imaging in the Great Observatories Origins Survey North (GOODS-N) field. With deep FUV observations, we construct the UVLF for galaxies at z |$\lt 0.13$| and subsequently characterize it with a Schechter function fit. The fitted parameters are consistent with previous determinations. With deep NUV observations, we are able to construct the UVLF in seven redshift bins in the range z |$\sim$| 0.4–0.8, with galaxies identified till |$\sim$| 2 mag fainter than previous surveys, owing to the high angular-resolution of UVIT. The fitted Schechter function parameters are obtained for these UVLFs. At z |$\sim$| 0.7–0.8, we also utilize Hubble Space Telescope (HST) F275W observations in the GOODS-N field to construct the UVLF in 2 redshift bins, whose fitted Schechter function parameters are then found to be consistent with that determined from UVIT at z |$\sim$| 0.75. We thus probe the variation of the fitted UVLF parameters over z |$\sim$| 0.8–0.4, a span of |$\sim$| 2.7 Gyr in age. We find that the slope of the Schechter function, |$\alpha$|⁠ , is at its steepest at z |$\sim$| 0.65, implying highest star-formation at this instant with galaxies being relatively more passive before and after this time. We infer that this is a short-lived instance of increased cosmic star-formation in the GOODS-N field even though cosmic star-formation may be winding-down over longer time-span at this redshift range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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