Deep multicolour imaging of the field towards the quasar pair PC1643+463 A&B

Abstract

We present the first results of a deep imaging programme to identify the system responsible for the Cosmic Microwave Background decrement in the field towards the z = 3.8 quasar pair PC1643+4631 A&B. Using the prime focus camera at the William Herschel Telescope we have carried out deep multicolour optical imaging to search for candidate cluster galaxies at extremely high redshift. Using UGR colour selection we find the surface density of z > 3 Lyman-break galaxy candidates is at least as great as that found in the field of the z = 3.1 structure discovered by Steidel et al. (1998), and may be somewhat greater.

4 pages, 1 figure, LaTeX, uses paspconf.sty and psfig.sty. To be published in "The Young Universe: Galaxy Formation and Evolution at Intermediate and High Redshift", 1998, S. D'Odorico, A. Fontana & E. Giallongo (eds), (ASP)