ABSTRACT. We present a preliminary survey of 58 radio sources within the isoplanatic patches (r < 25'') of bright (11 < R < 12) stars suitable for use as natural guide stars with high-order adaptive optics (AO). An optical and near-infrared imaging survey was conducted utilizing tip-tilt corrections in the optical and AO in the near-infrared. Spectral energy distributions were fit to the multi-band data for the purpose of obtaining photometric redshifts using the Hyperz code. Several of these photometric redshifts were confirmed with spectroscopy, a result that gives more confidence to the redshift distribution for the whole sample. Additional long-wavelength data from Spitzer, SCUBA, SHARC2, and VLA supplement the optical and near-infrared data. We find the sample generally follows and extends the magnitude-redshift relation found for more powerful local radio galaxies. The survey has identified several reasonably bright (H = 19 – 20) objects at significant redshifts (z > 1) that are now within the capabilities of the current generation of AO-fed integral-field spectrographs. These objects constitute a unique sample that can be used for detailed ground-based AO studies of galactic structure, evolution, and active galactic nucleus formation at high redshift.

Key words: galaxies: evolution; galaxies: formation; galaxies: fundamental parameters; galaxies: high-redshift

^* Based on observations obtained at the Canada-France-Hawai'i Telescope (CFHT) which is operated by the National Research Council of Canada, the Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique of France, and the University of Hawai'i.
^** Based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the Australian Research Council (Australia), CNPq (Brazil), and SECYT (Argentina).

Print publication: Issue 1 (2009 November)
Received 2009 March 30, accepted for publication 2009 September 14
Published 2009 October 15