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In this paper, we describe the photometric calibration of data taken with the near-infrared Wide Field Camera (WFCAM) on the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT). The broad-band ZYJHK data are directly calibrated from Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) point sources which are abundant in every WFCAM pointing. We perform an analysis of spatial systematics in the photometric calibration, both inter- and intradetector show that these are present at up to the ∼5 per cent level in WFCAM. Although the causes of these systematics are not yet fully understood, a method for their removal is developed and tested. Following the application of the correction procedure, the photometric calibration of WFCAM is found to be accurate to ≃1.5 per cent for the JHK bands and 2 per cent for the ZY bands, meeting the survey requirements. We investigate the transformations between the 2MASS and WFCAM systems and find that the Z and Y calibrations are sensitive to the effects of interstellar reddening for large values of , but that the JHK filters remain largely unaffected. We measure a small correction to the WFCAM Y-band photometry required to place WFCAM on a Vega system, and investigate WFCAM measurements of published standard stars from the list of UKIRT faint standards. Finally, we present empirically determined throughput measurements for WFCAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present first results from a deep , wide-field (6.5 deg2) infrared ( ZY JHK) survey in the Upper Sco association conducted within the science verification phase of the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope Infrared Deep Sky Survey Galactic Cluster Survey (GCS). Cluster members define a sequence well separated from field stars in the colour–magnitude diagram. We have selected a total of 164 candidates with from the and diagrams. We further investigated the location of those candidates in the other colour–magnitude and colour–colour diagrams to weed out contaminants. The cross-correlation of the GCS catalogue with the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey data base confirms the membership of 116 photometric candidates down to 20 Jupiter masses as they lie within a 2σ circle centred on the association mean motion. The final list of cluster members contains 129 sources with masses between 0.3 and . We extracted a dozen new low-mass brown dwarfs below 20 MJup, the limit of previous surveys in the region. Finally, we have derived the mass function in Upper Sco over the mass range, best fit by a single segment with a slope of index , in agreement with previous determination in open clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper defines the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) Early Data Release (EDR). UKIDSS is a set of five large near-infrared surveys being undertaken with the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope Wide Field Camera (WFCAM). The programme began in 2005 May and has an expected duration of 7 yr. Each survey uses some or all of the broad-band filter complement ZY JHK. The EDR is the first public release of data to the European Southern Observatory (ESO) community. All worldwide releases occur after a delay of 18 months from the ESO release. The EDR provides a small sample data set, ∼50 deg2 (about 1 per cent of the whole of UKIDSS), that is a lower limit to the expected quality of future survey data releases. In addition, an EDR+ data set contains all EDR data plus extra data of similar quality, but for areas not observed in all of the required filters (amounting to ∼220 deg2). The first large data release, DR1, will occur in mid-2006. We provide details of the observational implementation, the data reduction, the astrometric and photometric calibration and the quality control procedures. We summarize the data coverage and quality (seeing, ellipticity, photometricity, depth) for each survey and give a brief guide to accessing the images and catalogues from the WFCAM Science Archive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]