Permanent link: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/42993
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- Title
- The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: galaxy luminosity functions per spectral type
- Author(s)
- Madgwick, Darren; Lahav, Ofer; Baldry, Ivan K.; Baugh, Carlton; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss; Bridges, Terry J.; Cannon, Russell D.; Cole, Shaun; Colless, Matthew; Collins, Chris A.; Couch, Warrick J.; Dalton, Gavin B.; De Propris, Roberto; Driver, Simon P.; Efstathiou, George P.; Ellis, Richard S.; Frenk, Carlos S.; Glazebrook, Karl; Jackson, C. A.; Lewis, Ian; Lumsden, Stuart; Maddox, Stephen J.; Norberg, Peder; Peacock, John A.; Peterson, Bruce A.; Sutherland, William J.; Taylor, Keith
- Abstract
- We calculate the optical bJ 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, η, which is a linear combination of the first two projections derived from a Principal Component Analysis. This parameter η 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 75000 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 (α) as one moves from passive (α = -0.54) to active (α = -1.50) star-forming galaxies, and that there is also a corresponding faintening of the rest frame characteristic magnitude M* - 5 log10(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 [MbJ -5 log10(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.
- Publication Type
- Journal article
- Source
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 333, no. 1 (Jun 2002), pp. 133-144
- Publication Year
- 2002
- Keyword(s)
- Classification; Distances; Elliptical; Evolution; Field; Formation; Galaxies; Lenticular; Redshifts; Stellar content
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing
- Publisher URL
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05393.x
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2002 Royal Astronomical Society. The accepted manuscript of this paper is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. The definitive publication is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.
- ISSN
- 0035-8711
- Full Text
- Peer Reviewed
