The Evolution of the Optical Galaxy Luminosity Function -
Abstract
The optical luminosity function is a fundamental characterization of the galaxy population. A combination of earlier redshift surveys with two new surveys allows the first accurate determination of the evolution of the luminosity function with redshift, and reveals a marked steepening of the faint end slope. This effect is more profound for star-forming galaxies - there are 5-10 times as many star-forming galaxies at z~0.5 as there are locally. These results, together with high-resolution imaging and linewidth velocity measurements, support the view that the excess of star-forming galaxies at moderate redshift represents a general increase in the star-formation rate of normal galaxies rather than a distinct new population. This increase in star-formation appears in lower-L galaxies at lower redshift and only appears in L* galaxies at z>0.5. Imaging studies provide indirect evidence which suggests that interactions are responsible for a large part of this increased activity.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9409054,
title = {The Evolution of the Optical Galaxy Luminosity Function -},
author = {Matthew Colless},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9409054},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
Invited review, 35th Herstmonceux Conference, "Wide Field Spectroscopy and the Distant Universe", 11 pages, uuencoded compressed Postscript file, also via anonymous ftp from mso.anu.edu.au as pub/colless/hx35.ps.Z