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Abstract
Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) is a project to study galaxy formation
and evolution, combining imaging data from ultraviolet to radio with
spectroscopic data from the AAOmega spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian
Telescope. Using data from Phase 1 of GAMA, taken over three observing
seasons, and correcting for various minor sources of incompleteness, we
calculate galaxy luminosity functions (LFs) and their evolution in the
ugriz passbands.
At low redshift, z <0.1, we find that blue galaxies, defined
according to a magnitude-dependent but non-evolving colour cut, are
reasonably well fitted over a range of more than 10 magnitudes by simple
Schechter functions in all bands. Red galaxies, and the combined blue
plus red sample, require double power-law Schechter functions to fit a
dip in their LF faintwards of the characteristic magnitude M* before a
steepening faint end. This upturn is at least partly due to
dust-reddened disc galaxies.
We measure the evolution of the galaxy LF over the redshift range 0.002
<z <0.5 both by using a parametric fit and by measuring binned
LFs in redshift slices. The characteristic luminosity L* is found to
increase with redshift in all bands, with red galaxies showing stronger
luminosity evolution than blue galaxies. The comoving number density of
blue galaxies increases with redshift, while that of red galaxies
decreases, consistent with prevailing movement from blue cloud to red
sequence. As well as being more numerous at higher redshift, blue
galaxies also dominate the overall luminosity density beyond redshifts
z≃ 0.2. At lower redshifts, the luminosity density is dominated by
red galaxies in the riz bands, and by blue galaxies in u and g.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1239-1262 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Volume | 420 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 21 Feb 2012 |
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