Stellar Population Survey Using 4MOST (4MOST-StePS)

Galaxy spectra encode in their continuum and absorption/emission features a wealth of information on galaxy physics, mass assembly and chemical enrichment history. The 4MOST-StePS survey will collect high-quality spectra (with a median signal-to-noise ratio of about 30 Å^–1, and resolution R ~ 5000) for a sample of about 3300 galaxies brighter than I_AB = 20.5 within the RA-Dec-z footprint of the WAVES-Deep survey. These spectra will provide a precise empirical description of the evolutionary path of massive galaxies in the intermediate redshift range (0.3 < z < 0.7) between the LEGA-C and SDSS surveys. The locations of the galaxies within the cosmic web, unveiled by WAVES-Deep, will disclose the connection between galaxy properties and environment, down to the scales of galaxy pairs.