Candidate massive galaxies at z~4 in the DES

We further applied several quality cuts to the fitting results, including goodness of fit and a unimodal redshift probability distribution. We finally select 233 candidates whose photometric redshift probability distribution function peaks around z~4, have high stellar masses [log(M*/M_{sun}_)~11.7 for a Salpeter IMF] and ages around 0.1Gyr, i.e. formation redshift around 5. These properties match those of the progenitors of the most massive galaxies in the local Universe.

This is an ideal sample for spectroscopic follow-up to select the fraction of galaxies which are truly at high redshift. These initial results and those at the survey completion, which we shall push to higher redshifts, will set unprecedented constraints on galaxy formation, evolution, and the re-ionization epoch.