The Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS): Survey Definition and Goals*

Abstract

We present the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS), an\n18 square degrees medium-deep survey at 3.6 and 4.5 microns with the\npost-cryogenic Spitzer Space Telescope to ~2 microJy (AB=23.1) depth of five\nhighly observed astronomical fields (ELAIS-N1, ELAIS-S1, Lockman Hole, Chandra\nDeep Field South and XMM-LSS). SERVS is designed to enable the study of galaxy\nevolution as a function of environment from z~5 to the present day, and is the\nfirst extragalactic survey both large enough and deep enough to put rare\nobjects such as luminous quasars and galaxy clusters at z>1 into their\ncosmological context. SERVS is designed to overlap with several key surveys at\noptical, near- through far-infrared, submillimeter and radio wavelengths to\nprovide an unprecedented view of the formation and evolution of massive\ngalaxies. In this paper, we discuss the SERVS survey design, the data\nprocessing flow from image reduction and mosaicing to catalogs, as well as\ncoverage of ancillary data from other surveys in the SERVS fields. We also\nhighlight a variety of early science results from the survey.\n