August 19, 2016

A further 1500h of Spitzer time has been awarded to complete a survey of the COSMOS field. The program has been approved in Spitzer Cycle-13 to PI I. Labbe and COSMOS Co-I Karina Caputi. This will complete the legacy of Spitzer/IRAC over COSMOS by extending the deep coverage to cover the full 1.8 sq degree field, producing a nearly homogenous and contiguous map unparalleled in terms of area and depth. This will complement ongoing optical-to-NIR surveys and reconfirm COSMOS as a unique field for probing the bright end of the z=6-11 universe and the formation of large-scale structures. The observations will allow us to:

1. Constrain the galaxy stellar mass function during the epoch of reionization at z=6-8 with ~10,000 galaxies at these redshifts,
2. Securely identify the brightest galaxies at 9 < z < 11,
3. Trace the growth of stellar mass at 1 < z < 8 and the co-evolution of galaxies and their dark matter halos,
4. Identify (proto)clusters and large scale structures, and
5. Reveal dust enshrouded starbursts and the first quiescent galaxies at 3 < z < 6.

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