Preliminary Target Selection for the DESI Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) Sample

Abstract

The DESI survey will observe more than 8 million candidate luminous red galaxies (LRGs) in the redshift range $0.3<z<1.0$. Here we present a preliminary version of the DESI LRG target selection developed using Legacy Surveys Data Release 8 $g$, $r$, $z$ and $W1$ photometry. This selection yields a sample with a uniform surface density of $\sim 600$ deg${}^{-2}$and very low predicted stellar contamination and redshift failure rates. During DESI Survey Validation, updated versions of this selection will be tested and optimized.

4 pages, 1 figure; published in Res. Notes AAS