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The European Large Area ISO Survey (ELAIS): The Final Band-merged Catalogue

We present the final band-merged ELAIS catalogue at 6.7, 15, 90, and 175 $μ$m, and the associated data at u,g,r,i,z,J,H,K, and 20cm. The origin of the survey, infrared and radio observations, data-reduction and optical identifications are briefly reviewed, and a summary of the area covered, and completeness limit for each infrared band is given. A detailed discussion of the band-merging and optical association strategy is given. The total catalogues consists of 2860 sources. For extragalactic sources observed in 3 or more infrared bands, colour-colour diagrams are presented and discussed in terms of the contributing infrared populations. Spectral energy distributions are shown for selected sources and compared with cirrus, M82 and Arp220 starburst, and AGN dust torus models. Spectroscopic redshifts are tabulated, where available. For the N1 and N2 areas, the INT ugriz Wide Field Survey, permits photometric redshifts to be estimated for galaxies and quasars. These agree well with the spectroscopic redshifts, within the uncertainty of the photometric method. The redshift distribution is given for selected ELAIS bands and colour-redshift diagrams are discussed. There is a high proportion of ultraluminous infrared galaxies in the ELAIS Catalogue ($> 10 %$ of 15 $μ$m sources), many with Arp220-like colours. 10 hyperluminous infrared galaxies and 10 EROs are found in the survey. The large numbers of ultraluminous galaxies imply very strong evolution in the star-formation rate between z = 0 and 1.