The faint end of the galaxy luminosity function

Details The faint end of the galaxy luminosity function The faint end of the galaxy luminosity function

Dec 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994apj...436l.143t&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal, Part 2 - Letters (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 436, no. 2, p. L143-L147

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

6

Active Galactic Nuclei, Astronomical Photometry, Big Bang Cosmology, Galactic Evolution, Spectroscopic Analysis, Stellar Luminosity, Gravitational Lenses, Red Shift, Stellar Magnitude

Scientific paper

The evolution of the B- and K-band luminosity functions of galaxies is inferred in a relatively model-independent way from deep spectroscopic and photometric surveys. We confirm earlier evidence by Eales for an increase in the amplitude of the B-band galaxy luminosity function at modest redshift (z less than or approx. 0.2). We find in addition that the slope of the faint end of the luminosity function must systematically steepen and progress toward more luminous galaxies with increasing lookback time, assuming that the galaxy redshift distribution may be smoothly extrapolated 2 mag fainter than observed, as suggested by recent gravitational lensing studies. This evolution is shown to be color-dependent, and we predict the near-infrared color distribution of faint galaxies. The luminosity function of blue (B - K less than or approx. 4) galaxies in the range 0.2 less than or approx. z less than or approx. 1 can be represented by a Schechter function with characteristic light density phi* L* comparable to that of present-day late-type galaxies, but with a steeper faint end slope alpha approx. 1.4.

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