Madgwick, DS;
Lahav, O;
Baldry, IK;
Baugh, CM;
Bland-Hawthorn, J;
Bridges, T;
Cannon, R;
... Taylor, K; + view all
(2002)
The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: galaxy luminosity functions per spectral type.
MON NOT R ASTRON SOC
, 333
(1)
133 - 144.
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Abstract
We calculate the optical b (J) luminosity function (LF) of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) for different subsets defined by their spectral properties. These spectrally selected subsets are defined using a new parameter, eta , which is a linear combination of the first two projections derived from a Principal Component Analysis. This parameter eta identifies the average emission- and absorption-line strength in the galaxy rest frame spectrum, and hence is a useful indicator of the present star formation. We use a total of 75 000 galaxies in our calculations, chosen from a sample of high signal-to-noise ratio, low-redshift galaxies observed before 2001 January. We find that there is a systematic steepening of the faint-end slope (alpha ) as one moves from passive (alpha =-0.54) to active (alpha =-1.50) star-forming galaxies, and that there is also a corresponding faintening of the rest frame characteristic magnitude M *-5 log(10) (h ) (from -19.6 to -19.2). We also show that the Schechter function provides a poor fit to the quiescent (Type 1) LF for very faint galaxies [M (b J) -5 log(10) (h ) fainter than -16.0], perhaps suggesting the presence of a significant dwarf population. The LFs presented here give a precise confirmation of the trends seen previously in a much smaller preliminary 2dFGRS sample, and in other surveys. We also present a new procedure for determining self-consistent k -corrections, and investigate possible fibre-aperture biases.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: galaxy luminosity functions per spectral type |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Keywords: | galaxies : distances and redshifts, galaxies : elliptical and lenticular, cD, galaxies : evolution, galaxies : formation, galaxies : stellar content, CLASSIFICATION, FIELD, EVOLUTION |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/9683 |
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