Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): ugriz galaxy luminosity functions

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA)

The GAMA survey aims to deliver 250,000 optical spectra (3–7Å resolution) over 250 sq. degrees to spectroscopic limits of rAB < 19.8 and KAB < 17.0 mag. Complementary imaging will be provided by GALEX, VST, UKIRT, VISTA, HERSCHEL and ASKAP to comparable flux levels leading to a definitive multi-wavelength galaxy database. The data will be used to study all aspects of cosmic structures on 1kpc t...

Luminosity Functions and Field Galaxy Population Evolution

Systematic Biases in Galaxy Luminosity Functions

Both the detection of galaxies and the derivation of the luminosity function depend upon isophotal magnitudes, implicitly in the first case, and explicitly in the latter. However, unlike perfect point sources, the fraction of a galaxy’s light contained within the limiting isophote is a function of redshift, due to the combined effects of the point spread function and cosmological dimming. This ...

Linking halo mass to galaxy luminosity

In this paper we present a new, essentially empirical, model for the relation between the mass of a dark matter halo/subhalo and the luminosity of a galaxy hosted in it. To estimate this, we replace the assumption of linearity between light and mass fluctuations with the assumption of monotonicity between galaxy light and halo or subhalo mass. We are enabled to proceed with this less restrictiv...

Galaxy Luminosity Functions to Z ∼ 1: Deep2 vs. Combo-17 and Implications for Red Galaxy Formation

The DEEP2 and COMBO-17 surveys are used to study the evolution of the luminosity function of red and blue galaxies to z ∼ 1. Schechter function fits show that, since z = 1, M∗ B dims by ∼ 1.3 mag per unit redshift for both color classes, φ∗ of blue galaxies shows little change, while φ∗ for red galaxies has formally nearly quadrupled. At face value, the number density of blue galaxies has remai...