Photometric Redshifts Of Starburst Galaxies

. Although starburst galaxies have relatively flat spectral energy distributions, their strong optical emission lines and near-UV continua make it very feasible to estimate their redshifts photometrically. In this work, I describe a photometric technique that simultaneously (1) identifies galaxies by star formation rate and (2) measures their redshifts with an accuracy of oe z = 0:05 for objects at z ! 1. (An extension of the technique is potentially feasible, with the use of near-infrared colors, to 1:6 ! z ! 2:5.) Applying this technique to a deep multicolor field survey reveals a large excess population of strongly star-forming galaxies at z 0:3 compared with z ! 0:3. Followup with spectroscopy and nearinfrared photometry confirms their presence, and suggests that some of them may be in the midst of their initial burst of star formation. 1. Introduction The work presented here stems from a study of the field galaxy population in the comparatively modest redshift range z ! 0:5. Us..