GMASS ultradeep spectroscopy of galaxies at z~2 - VII. Sample selection
  and spectroscopy
  The populations of both quiescent and actively star-forming galaxies at 1<z<2
are still under-represented in our spectroscopic census of galaxies throughout
the history of the Universe. In the light of galaxy formation models, however,
the evolution of galaxies at these redshifts is of pivotal importance and
merits further investigation. We therefore designed a spectroscopic observing
campaign of a sample of both massive, quiescent and star-forming galaxies at
z>1.4, called Galaxy Mass Assembly ultra-deep Spectroscopic Survey (GMASS). To
determine redshifts and physical properties, such as metallicity, dust content,
dynamical masses, and star formation history, we performed ultra-deep
spectroscopy with the red-sensitive optical spectrograph FORS2 at the VLT. Our
sample consists of objects, within the CDFS/GOODS area, detected at 4.5 micron,
to be sensitive to stellar mass rather than star formation intensity. The
spectroscopic targets were selected with a photometric redshift constraint
(z>1.4) and magnitude constraints (B(AB)<26, I(AB)<26.5), which should ensure
that these are faint, distant, and fairly massive galaxies. We present the
sample selection, survey design, observations, data reduction, and
spectroscopic redshifts. Up to 30 hours of spectroscopy of 174 spectroscopic
targets and 70 additional objects enabled us to determine 210 redshifts, of
which 145 are at z>1.4. From the redshifts and photometry, we deduce that the
BzK selection criteria are efficient (82%) and suffer low contamination (11%).
Several papers based on the GMASS survey show its value for studies of galaxy
formation and evolution. We publicly release the redshifts and reduced spectra.
In combination with existing and on-going additional observations in
CDFS/GOODS, this data set provides a legacy for future studies of distant
galaxies.
