The Evolving Luminosity Function of Red Galaxies

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

We trace the assembly history of red galaxies since z=1, by measuring their evolving B-band luminosity function. Our sample of 39599 red galaxies, selected from 7 square degrees of NOAO and Spitzer imaging of Bootes, is an order of magnitude larger than comparable samples in the literature. The B-band luminosity density of red galaxies increases by only 36 percent from z=0 to z=1. If red galaxy stellar populations have faded by 1.24 B-band magnitudes over the past 8 Gyr, the stellar mass contained within the red galaxy population has roughly doubled during the same period. Star-forming galaxies are being transformed into L* red galaxies at z<1. In contrast, the evolution of 4L* red galaxies differs only slightly from a model with little star formation and no galaxy mergers at z<1. Roughly 75 percent of the stellar mass contained within today's 4L* red galaxies was already in place at z=1. While red galaxy mergers have been observed, these do not lead to rapid growth of 4L* red galaxy stellar masses at z<1. For a thorough discussion of our work, see Brown et al. (astro-ph/0609584).

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