The AstroSat UV Deep Field South. III. Evolution of the UV Luminosity Function and Luminosity Density from z ~ 0.8–0.4

We characterise the rest-frame 1500 Å UV luminosity Function (UVLF) from deep AstroSat/UVIT F154W and N242W imaging in the Great Observatories Origins Survey South (GOODS-S) deep field. The UVLFs are constructed and subsequently characterised with fitted Schechter function parameters from FUV observations at z< 0.13 and NUV observations in seven redshift bins in z∼0.8–0.4. The UVLF slope (𝛼) and characteristic magnitude (𝑀∗) are consistent with previous determinations for this redshift range based on AstroSat/UVIT GOODS-North observations, as well as with those from Galaxy evolution Explorer and Hubble Space Telescope observations. However, differences in the normalisation factor (𝜙∗) are present for UVLFs for some redshift bins.We compute the UV luminosity density, 𝜌UV, combining our determined UVLF parameters with literature determinations out to z∼ 10. The 𝜌UV trend with redshift implies the rapid increase in cosmic star formation till its peak at z∼ 3 (cosmic noon) followed by a slow decline till present day. Both the initial increase in cosmic star formation and subsequent decline are found to be more rapid than previous determinations.