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Title

The physical parameters of the evolving population of faint galaxies

Author(s)

Glazebrook, Karl;  Abraham, Roberto G.;  Santiago, Basilio X.;  Ellis, Richard S.;  Griffiths, Richard E.

Abstract

The excess number of blue galaxies at faint magnitudes is a subject of much controversy. Recent Hubble Space Telescope results have revealed a plethora of galaxies with peculiar morphologies tentatively identified as the evolving population. We report the results of optical spectroscopy and near-infrared photometry of a sample of faint HST galaxies from the Medium Deep Survey to ascertain the physical properties of the faint morphological populations. We find four principal results. First, the population of objects classified as 'peculiar' are intrinsically luminous in the optical (MB ∼ -19). Secondly these systems tend to be strong sources of [O II] line luminosity. Thirdly the optical-infrared colours of the faint population (a) confirm the presence of a population of compact blue galaxies and (b) show the stellar populations of irregular/peculiar galaxies encompass a wide range in age. Finally a surface-brightness comparison with the local galaxy sample of Frei et al. shows that these objects are not of anomalously low surface brightness, rather we find that all morphological classes have evolved to a higher surface brightness at higher redshifts (z > 0.3).

Publication type

Journal article

Source

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 297, no. 3 (Jul 1998), pp. 885-904

Publication year

1998

Keyword(s)

Cosmology;  Counts;  Deep survey images;  Evolution;  Galaxies;  Luminosity function;  Morphology;  Nearby;  Observations;  Peculiar galaxies;  Redshift survey;  Structure;  Surveys;  Telescope

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell Publishing

ISSN

0035-8711

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.1998.01585.x

Copyright

Copyright © 1998 RAS. The accepted manuscript of the paper is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. The definitive publication is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.

Full text

Peer reviewed