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We present the results of spectroscopic studies with the LRIS spectrograph on Keck of two of the Hawaii deep survey fields. The 393 objects observed cover a 26. 2 arcmin²^ area and constitute a nearly complete sample down to K = 20, I = 23, and B = 24. 5. The rest-frame K- band luminosity function and its evolution with redshift are described. Comparisons are made with other optically selected (B and I) samples in the literature, and the corresponding rest-frame B-band luminosity function evolution is presented. The B-band counts at B ~ 24 are shown to be a mixture of normal galaxies at modest redshifts and galaxies undergoing rapid star formation, which have a wide range of masses and which are spread over the redshift interval from z = 0. 2 to beyond z = 1. 7. The luminosity functions, number counts, and color distributions at optical and IR wavelengths are discussed in terms of a consistent picture of the star-forming history of the galaxy sample. O II emission-line diagnostics or rest-frame ultraviolet-infrared color information are used in combination with rest-frame absolute H magnitudes to construct a "fundamental plane" in which the evolution of the global star-formation rate with redshift can be shown, and we find that the maximum rest-frame K luminosity of galaxies undergoing rapid star formation has been declining smoothly with decreasing redshift from a value near L_*_ at z > 1. This smooth decrease in the characteristic luminosity of galaxies dominated by star formation can simultaneously account for the high B- band galaxy counts at faint magnitudes and the redshift distribution at z < 1 in both the B- and K-selected samples. Finally, the overall K-band light density evolution is discussed as a tracer of the baryonic mass in stars and compared with the overall rates of star formation inferred from the rest-frame ultraviolet light density as a function of redshift.
Cowie et al. (Sun,) studied this question.