Far-Ultraviolet Number Counts of Field Galaxies
  The far-ultraviolet (FUV) number counts of galaxies constrain the evolution
of the star-formation rate density of the universe. We report the FUV number
counts computed from FUV imaging of several fields including the Hubble Ultra
Deep Field, the Hubble Deep Field North, and small areas within the GOODS-North
and -South fields. These data were obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope
Solar Blind Channel of the Advance Camera for Surveys. The number counts sample
a FUV AB magnitude range from 21-29 and cover a total area of 15.9 arcmin^2, ~4
times larger than the most recent HST FUV study. Our FUV counts intersect
bright FUV GALEX counts at 22.5 mag and they show good agreement with recent
semi-analytic models based on dark matter "merger trees" by Somerville et al.
(2011). We show that the number counts are ~35% lower than in previous HST
studies that use smaller areas. The differences between these studies are
likely the result of cosmic variance; our new data cover more lines of sight
and more area than previous HST FUV studies. The integrated light from field
galaxies is found to contribute between 65.9 +/-8 - 82.6 +/-12
photons/s/cm^2/sr/angstrom to the FUV extragalactic background. These
measurements set a lower limit for the total FUV background light.
