The K-Band Galaxy Luminosity Function

Analysis Center (3) Department of Astronomy; C.S. Kochanek (1); E.E. Falco (1); J. Mader (1); J.P. Huchra (1); M.A. Pahre (1); R. Cutri (2); S.E. Schneider (3) ((1) Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (2) Infrared Processing; T. Chester (2); T.H Jarrett (2)

arxiv: astro-ph/0011456 · v1 · submitted 2000-11-24 · 🌌 astro-ph

The K-Band Galaxy Luminosity Function

C.S. Kochanek (1) , M.A. Pahre (1) , E.E. Falco (1) , J.P. Huchra (1) , J. Mader (1) , T.H Jarrett (2) , T. Chester (2) , R. Cutri (2)

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S.E. Schneider (3) ((1) Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (2) Infrared Processing Analysis Center (3) Department of Astronomy University of Massachusetts)

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keywords luminositygalaxiesk-bandclassificationsfunctionsalphacomparedconsistent

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We measured the K-band luminosity function using a complete sample of 4192 morphologically-typed 2MASS galaxies with 7 < K < 11.25 mag spread over 2.12 str. Early-type (T < -0.5) and late-type (T > -0.5) galaxies have similarly shaped luminosity functions, alpha_e=-0.92+/-0.10 and alpha_l=-0.87+/-0.09. The early-type galaxies are brighter, M_*e=-23.53+/-0.06 mag compared to M_*l=-22.98\pm0.06 mag, but less numerous, n_*e=(0.0045+/-0.0006)h^3/Mpc^3 compared to n_*l=(0.0101+/-0.0013)h^3/Mpc^3 for H_0=100h km/s Mpc, such that the late-type galaxies slightly dominate the K-band luminosity density, j_late/j_early=1.17+/-0.12. Our morphological classifications are internally consistent, consistent with previous classifications and lead to luminosity functions unaffected by the estimated uncertainties in the classifications. These luminosity functions accurately predict the K-band number counts and redshift distributions for K < 18 mag, beyond which the results depend on galaxy evolution and merger histories.

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