Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2005-10-17
Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.366:373-386,2006
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
15 pages, accepeted for publication in MNRAS
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09714.x
We study the bright end of the luminosity distribution of galaxies in fields with Luminous Red Galaxies (LRG) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Using 2099 square degree of SDSS imaging data, we search for luminous (> L*) early-type galaxies within 1.0 Mpc/h of a volume-limited sample of 12,608 spectroscopic LRG in the redshift range 0.12 < z < 0.38. Most of these objects lie in rich environments, with the LRG being the brightest object within 1.0 Mpc/h. The luminosity gap, M12, between the first and second-rank galaxies within 1.0 Mpc/h is large (~0.8 mag), substantially larger than can be explained with an exponentially decaying luminosity function of galaxies. The brightest member is less luminous (by 0.1 to 0.2 mag), and shows a larger gap in LRG selected groups than in cluster-like environments. The large luminosity gap shows little evolution with redshift to z = 0.4, ruling out the scenario that these LRG selected brightest cluster or group galaxies grow by recent cannibalism of cluster members.
Loh Yeong-Shang
Strauss Michael A.
No associations
LandOfFree
The Bright End of the Luminosity Function of Red Sequence Galaxies does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Bright End of the Luminosity Function of Red Sequence Galaxies, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Bright End of the Luminosity Function of Red Sequence Galaxies will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-193498