Lyman Break Galaxies at Redshiftz∼ 3: Survey Description and Full Data Set

We present the basic data for a large ground-based spectroscopic survey forz~3 ``Lyman break galaxies'' (LBGs), photometrically selected using rest-UVcolors from very deep images in 17 high Galactic latitude fields. The totalsurvey covers an area of 0.38 square degrees, and includes 2347photometrically-selected candidate LBGs to an apparent R_{AB} magnitude limitof 25.5. Approximately half of these objects have been observedspectroscopically using the Keck telescopes, yielding 940 redshifts with =2.96 +/- 0.29. We discuss the images, photometry, target selection, and thespectroscopic program in some detail, and present catalogs of the photometricand spectroscopic data, made available in electronic form. We discuss thegeneral utility of conducting nearly-volume-limited redshift surveys inprescribed redshift intervals using judicious application of photometricpre-selection.Comment: To appear in ApJ, August 2003. 48 pages, 12 figures. Full data tables and images/photometry available at ftp://ftp.astro.caltech.edu/pub/ccs/lbgsurve