Summary of Programme

We propose to survey four contiguous regions of 10 deg² each in broad band BVRI filters to a limiting depth of B=26, I=24.5 (5 sigma). The primary scientific goals of the survey are the evolution of galaxy clustering as a function of colour at faint magnitudes, a well-defined catalogue of rich galaxy clusters at intermediate redshifts, and the detection of a significant number of quasars with z>5. We propose to make use of the small fraction of the required survey time which is likely to have very good seeing conditions to observe two sub-areas of 5 deg² each to U=26 (3 sigma) to investigate the large-scale clustering of the Lyman-break galaxies at z>3 and investigate the hypothesis that these objects trace the formation sites of present day rich clusters of galaxies. The survey will provide an invaluable resource for the new generation of 8-m class telescopes.