'The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com .' Copyright Blackwell Publishing DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13924.xThe UKIDSS Galactic Plane Survey (GPS) is one of the five near-infrared Public Legacy Surveys that are being undertaken by the UKIDSS consortium, using the Wide Field Camera on the United Kingdom Infrared Telescop

The Herschel ATLAS is the largest open-time key project that will be carried out on the Herschel Space Observatory. It will survey 570 deg2 of the extragalactic sky, 4 times larger than all the other Herschel extragalactic surveys combined, in five far-infrared and submillimeter bands. We describe the survey, the complementary multiwavelength data sets that will be combined with the Herschel data, and the six major science programs we are undertaking. Using new models based on a previous submillimeter survey of galaxies, we present predictions of the properties of the ATLAS sources in other wave bands

Using the large multiwavelength data set in the Chandra/SWIRE Survey (0.6 deg 2 in the Lockman Hole), we show evidence for the existence of highly obscured (Compton-thick) AGNs, estimate a lower limit to their surface density, and characterize their multiwavelength properties. Two independent selection methods based on the X-ray and infrared spectral properties are presented. The two selected samples contain (1) five X-ray sources with hard X-ray spectra and column densities k10 24 cm À2 and (2) 120 infrared sources with red and AGN-dominated infrared SEDs. We estimate a surface density of at least 25 Compton-thick AGNs deg À2 detected in the infrared in the Chandra/ SWIRE field, of which $40% show distinct AGN signatures in their optical/near-infrared SEDs, the remaining being dominated by the host galaxy emission. Only $33% of all Compton-thick AGNs are detected in the X-rays at our depth [F(0:3 8 keV) > 10 À15 ergs cm À2 s À1 ]. We report the discovery of two sources in our sample of Comptonthick AGNs, SWIRE J104409.95+585224.8 (z ¼ 2:54) and SWIRE J104406.30+583954.1 (z ¼ 2:43), which are the most luminous Compton-thick AGNs at high z currently known. The properties of these two sources are discussed in detail with an analysis of their spectra, SEDs, luminosities, and black hole masses.

Studying quasars at the highest redshifts can constrain models of galaxy and black hole formation, and it also probes the intergalactic medium in the early universe. Optical surveys have to date discovered more than 60 quasars up to z ≃ 6.4, a limit set by the use of the z-band and CCD detectors. Only one z 6.4 quasar has been discovered, namely the z = 7.08 quasar ULAS J1120+0641, using near-infrared imaging. Here we report the discovery of three new z 6.4 quasars in 332 deg 2 of the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy (VIKING) survey, thus extending the number from 1 to 4. The newly discovered quasars have redshifts of z = 6.60, 6.75, and 6.89. The absolute magnitudes are between -26.0 and -25.5, 0.6-1.1 mag fainter than ULAS J1120+0641. Near-infrared spectroscopy revealed the Mg II emission line in all three objects. The quasars are powered by black holes with masses of ∼(1 − 2) × 10 9 M ⊙ . In our probed redshift range of 6.44 < z < 7.44 we can set a lower limit on the space density of supermassive black holes of ρ(M BH > 10 9 M ⊙ ) > 1.1×10 −9 Mpc −3 . The discovery of three quasars in our survey area is consistent with the z = 6 quasar luminosity function when extrapolated to z ∼ 7. We do not find evidence for a steeper decline in the space density of quasars with increasing redshift from z = 6 to z = 7.

The SIRTF Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic survey (SWIRE), the largest SIRTF Legacy program, is a wide-area, imaging survey to trace the evolution of dusty, starforming galaxies, evolved stellar populations, and AGN as a function of environment, from redshifts z∼3 to the current epoch. SWIRE will survey 7 high-latitude fields, totaling 60-65 sq. deg. in all 7 SIRTF bands: IRAC 3.6, 4.5, 5.6, 8µm and MIPS 24, 70, 160µm. Extensive modeling suggests that the Legacy Extragalactic Catalog may contain in excess of 2 million IR-selected galaxies, dominated by (1) ∼150,000 luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs: L F IR > 10 11 L ⊙) detected by MIPS (and significantly more detected by IRAC), ∼7,000 of these with z>2; (2) 1 million IRAC-detected early-type galaxies (∼ 2×10 5 with z > 1 and ∼10,000 with z > 2); and (3) ∼ 20,000 classical AGN detected with MIPS, plus significantly more dust-obscured QSO/AGN among the LIRGs. SWIRE will provide an unprecedented view of the evolution of galaxies, structure, and AGN. The key scientific goals of SWIRE are: (1) to determine the evolution of actively star-forming and passively evolving galaxies in order to understand the history of galaxy formation in the context of cosmic structure formation; (2) to determine the evolution of the spatial distribution and clustering of evolved galaxies, starbursts and AGN in the key redshift range, 0.5