CaltechAUTHORS
Published June 2002 | Version Published + Accepted Version
Journal Article Open

The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: galaxy luminosity functions per spectral type

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon University of Cambridge
  • 2. ROR icon Johns Hopkins University
  • 3. ROR icon Australian National University
  • 4. ROR icon Liverpool John Moores University
  • 5. ROR icon UNSW Sydney
  • 6. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 7. ROR icon University of Leeds
  • 8. ROR icon University of Nottingham
  • 9. ROR icon University of Edinburgh

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, 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 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 (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 [M-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.

Additional Information

© 2002 RAS. Accepted 2002 January 31. Received 2001 December 11; in original form 2001 July 13. DSM was supported by an Isaac Newton Studentship from the University of Cambridge and Trinity College. We thank R. Kaldare, S. Ronen and R. Somerville for many helpful discussions. The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey was made possible through the dedicated efforts of the staff at the Anglo-Australian Observatory, both in creating the two-degree field instrument and supporting it on the telescope.

Attached Files

Published - 333-1-133.pdf

Accepted Version - 0107197.pdf

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0107197.pdf

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
103390
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20200521-162414515

Related works

Describes
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002MNRAS.333..133M/abstract (URL)
https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0107197 (URL)

Funding

University of Cambridge
Trinity College

Dates

Created
2020-05-22
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-16
Created from EPrint's last_modified field