The Phoenix Deep Survey: The 1.4 GHz microjansky catalog

The initial Phoenix Deep Survey (PDS) observations with the Australia Telescope Compact Array have been supplemented by additional 1.4 GHz observations over the past few years. Here we present details of the construction of a new mosaic image covering an area of 4.56 deg(2), an investigation of the reliability of the source measurements, and the 1.4 GHz source counts for the compiled radio catalog. The mosaic achieves a 1 sigma rms noise of 12 muJy at its most sensitive, and a homogeneous radio-selected catalog of over 2000 sources reaching flux densities as faint as 60 muJy has been compiled. The source parameter measurements are found to be consistent with the expected uncertainties from the image noise levels and the Gaussian source fitting procedure. A radio-selected sample avoids the complications of obscuration associated with optically selected samples, and by utilizing complementary PDS observations, including multicolor optical, near-infrared, and spectroscopic data, this radio catalog will be used in a detailed investigation of the evolution in star formation spanning the redshift range 0 < z < 1. The homogeneity of the catalog ensures a consistent picture of galaxy evolution can be developed over the full cosmologically significant redshift range of interest. The 1.4 GHz mosaic image and the source catalog are available on the World Wide Web; or from the authors by request.