We present a catalog of emission-line galaxies selected solely by their emission-line fluxes using a wide-field integral field spectrograph .
This work is partially motivated as a pilot survey for the upcoming Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment ( HETDEX ) .
We describe the observations , reductions , detections , redshift classifications , line fluxes , and counterpart information for 397 emission-line galaxies detected over 169 \sq \arcmin with a 3500-5800Å bandpass under 5Å full-width-half-maximum ( FWHM ) spectral resolution .
The survey ’ s best sensitivity for unresolved objects under photometric conditions is between 4 - 20 \times 10 ^ { -17 } erg s ^ { -1 } cm ^ { -2 } depending on the wavelength , and Ly \alpha luminosities between 3 - 6 \times 10 ^ { 42 } erg s ^ { -1 } are detectable .
This survey method complements narrowband and color-selection techniques in the search for high redshift galaxies with its different selection properties and large volume probed .
The four survey fields within the COSMOS , GOODS-N , MUNICS , and XMM-LSS areas are rich with existing , complementary data .
We find 104 galaxies via their high redshift Ly \alpha emission at 1.9 < z < 3.8 , and the majority of the remainder objects are low redshift [ OII ] 3727 emitters at z < 0.56 .
The classification between low and high redshift objects depends on rest frame equivalent width , as well as other indicators , where available .
Based on matches to X-ray catalogs , the active galactic nuclei ( AGN ) fraction amongst the Ly \alpha emitters ( LAEs ) is 6 % .
We also analyze the survey ’ s completeness and contamination properties through simulations .
We find five high- z , highly-significant , resolved objects with full-width-half-maximum sizes > 44 \sq \arcsec which appear to be extended Ly \alpha nebulae .
We also find three high- z objects with rest frame Ly \alpha equivalent widths above the level believed to be achievable with normal star formation , EW _ { 0 } > 240 Å .
Future papers will investigate the physical properties of this sample .