Integral-field studies of the high-redshift universe

Abstract

We present results from a new method of exploring the distant Universe. We use 3-D spectroscopy to sample a large cosmological volume at a time when the Universe was less than 3 billion years old to investigate the evolution of star-formation activity. Within this study we also discovered a high redshift type- II quasar which would not have been identified with imaging studies alone. This highlights the crucial role that integral-field spectroscopy may play in surveying the distant Universe in the future. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.