Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T17:05:51.159Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The K-Band Luminosity Function of Galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

J. P. Gardner
Affiliation:
NASA - GSFC University of Durham, Physics Dept.
R. M. Sharples
Affiliation:
University of Durham, Physics Dept.
C. S. Frenk
Affiliation:
University of Durham, Physics Dept.
B. E. Carrasco
Affiliation:
INAOE

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The luminosity function of galaxies is central to many problems in cosmology, including the interpretation of faint number counts. The near-infrared provides several advantages over the optical for statistical studies of galaxies, including smooth and well-understood K-corrections and expected luminosity evolution. The K–band is dominated by near-solar mass stars which make up the bulk of the galaxy. The absolute K magnitude is a measure of the visible mass in a galaxy, and thus the K–band luminosity function is an observational counterpart of the mass function of galaxies.

Type
Part 5. Extra-Galactic Astronomy
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1998 

References

Baugh, C. M., et al. 1996, Mon. Not. R. astron. Soc., in press.Google Scholar
Efstathiou, G., Ellis, R. S., & Peterson, B. A. 1988, Mon. Not. R. astron. Soc., 232, 431.Google Scholar
Gardner, J. P., et al. 1996, Mon. Not. R. astron. Soc., 282, L1.Google Scholar
Glazebrook, K., et al. 1995, Mon. Not. R. astron. Soc., 275, 169.Google Scholar
Mobasher, B., Sharples, R. M., Ellis, R. S. 1993, Mon. Not. R. astron. Soc., 263, 560.Google Scholar
Schlechter, P. 1976, Astrophys. J. 203, 297.Google Scholar