We illustrate the extraordinary discovery potential for extragalactic astrophysics of a far-infrared/submillimetre (far-IR/submm) all-sky spectroscopic survey with a 3-m-class space telescope. Spectroscopy provides a three-dimensional view of the Universe and allows us to take full advantage of the sensitivity of present-day instrumentation, close to fundamental limits, overcoming the spatial confusion that affects broadband far-IR/submm surveys. A space telescope of the 3-m class (which has already been described in recent papers) will detect emission lines powered by star formation in galaxies out to $z\,{\simeq}\,8$ . It will specifically provide measurements of spectroscopic redshifts, star-formation rates (SFRs), dust masses, and metal content for millions of galaxies at the peak epoch of cosmic star formation and of hundreds of them at the epoch of reionisation. Many of these star-forming galaxies will be strongly lensed; the brightness amplification and stretching of their sizes will make it possible to investigate (by means of follow-up observations with high-resolution instruments like ALMA, JWST, and SKA) their internal structure and dynamics on the scales of giant molecular clouds (40–100 pc). This will provide direct information on the physics driving the evolution of star-forming galaxies. Furthermore, the arcmin resolution of the telescope at submm wavelengths is ideal for detecting the cores of galaxy proto-clusters, out to the epoch of reionisation. Due to the integrated emission of member galaxies, such objects (as well as strongly lensed sources) will dominate at the highest apparent far-IR luminosities. Tens of millions of these galaxy-clusters-in-formation will be detected at $z \simeq 2 - 3$ –3, with a tail extending out to $z\,{\simeq}\,7$ , and thousands of detections at $6\,{<}\,z\,{<}\,7$ . Their study will allow us to track the growth of the most massive halos well beyond what is possible with classical cluster surveys (mostly limited to $z\,\lesssim\, 1.5 - 2$ –2), tracing the history of star formation in dense environments and teaching us how star formation and galaxy-cluster formation are related across all epochs. The obscured cosmic SFR density of the Universe will thereby be constrained. Such a survey will overcome the current lack of spectroscopic redshifts of dusty star-forming galaxies and galaxy proto-clusters, representing a quantum leap in far-IR/submm extragalactic astrophysics.

We report the bivariate $\rm HI$ - and $\rm H_{2}$ -stellar mass distributions of local galaxies in addition of an inventory of galaxy mass functions, MFs, for $\rm HI$ , $\rm H_{2}$ , cold gas, and baryonic mass, separately into early- and late-type galaxies. The MFs are determined using the $\rm HI$ and $\rm H_{2}$ conditional distributions and the galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF). For the conditional distributions we use the results from the compilation presented in Calette et al. [(2018) RMxAA, 54, 443.]. For determining the GSMF from $M_{*}\sim3\times10^{7}$ to $3\times10^{12}\ \text{M}_{\odot}$ , we combine two spectroscopic samples from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at the redshift range $0.0033<z<0.2$ . We find that the low-mass end slope of the GSMF, after correcting from surface brightness incompleteness, is $\alpha\approx-1.4$ , consistent with previous determinations. The obtained $\rm HI\,$ MFs agree with radio blind surveys. Similarly, the $\rm H_{2}\,$ MFs are consistent with CO follow-up optically-selected samples. We estimate the impact of systematics due to mass-to-light ratios and find that our MFs are robust against systematic errors. We deconvolve our MFs from random errors to obtain the intrinsic MFs. Using the MFs, we calculate cosmic density parameters of all the baryonic components. Baryons locked inside galaxies represent 5.4% of the universal baryon content, while $\sim\! 96\%$ of the $\rm HI$ and $\rm H_{2}$ mass inside galaxies reside in late-type morphologies. Our results imply cosmic depletion times of $\rm H_{2}$ and total neutral H in late-type galaxies of $\sim\!1.3$ and 7.2 Gyr, respectively, which shows that late type galaxies are on average inefficient in converting $\rm H_{2}$ into stars and in transforming $\rm HI$ gas into $\rm H_{2}$ . Our results provide a fully self-consistent empirical description of galaxy demographics in terms of the bivariate gas–stellar mass distribution and their projections, the MFs. This description is ideal to compare and/or to constrain galaxy formation models.

We illustrate the extraordinary potential of the (far-IR) Origins Survey Spectrometer (OSS) on board the Origins Space Telescope (OST) to address a variety of open issues on the co-evolution of galaxies and AGNs. We present predictions for blind surveys, each of 1000 h, with different mapped areas (a shallow survey covering an area of 10 deg2 and a deep survey of 1 deg2) and two different concepts of the OST/OSS: with a 5.9 m telescope (Concept 2, our reference configuration) and with a 9.1 m telescope (Concept 1, previous configuration). In 1 000 h, surveys with the reference concept will detect from ∼1.9×106 to ∼8.7×106 lines from ∼4.8×105 to 2.7×106 star-forming galaxies and from ∼1.4×104 to ∼3.8×104 lines from ∼1.3×104 to 3.5×104 AGNs. The shallow survey will detect substantially more sources than the deep one; the advantage of the latter in pushing detections to lower luminosities/higher redshifts turns out to be quite limited. The OST/OSS will reach, in the same observing time, line fluxes more than one order of magnitude fainter than the SPICA/SMI and will cover a much broader redshift range. In particular it will detect tens of thousands of galaxies at z ≥ 5, beyond the reach of that instrument. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons lines are potentially bright enough to allow the detection of hundreds of thousands of star-forming galaxies up to z ∼ 8.5, i.e. all the way through the reionisation epoch. The proposed surveys will allow us to explore the galaxy–AGN co-evolution up to z ∼ 5.5−6 with very good statistics. OST Concept 1 does not offer significant advantages for the scientific goals presented here.

We measure the cosmic star formation history out to z = 1.3 using a sample of 918 radio-selected star-forming galaxies within the 2-deg2 COSMOS field. To increase our sample size, we combine 1.4-GHz flux densities from the VLA-COSMOS catalogue with flux densities measured from the VLA-COSMOS radio continuum image at the positions of I < 26.5 galaxies, enabling us to detect 1.4-GHz sources as faint as 40 μJy. We find that radio measurements of the cosmic star formation history are highly dependent on sample completeness and models used to extrapolate the faint end of the radio luminosity function. For our preferred model of the luminosity function, we find the star formation rate density increases from 0.017 M⊙ yr−1 Mpc−3 at z ∼ 0.225 to 0.092 M⊙ yr−1 Mpc−3 at z ∼ 1.1, which agrees to within 40% of recent UV, IR and 3-GHz measurements of the cosmic star formation history.

The occurence rate of tidal disruption events (TDEs) by survey missions depend on the black hole mass function of the galaxies, properties of the stellar cusp and mass of the central black hole. Using a power law density profile with Kroupa mass function, we solve the steady state Fokker-Planck to calculate the theoretical capture rate of stars by the black hole. Using a steady accretion model, the Schechter black hole mass function (BHMF) and the cosmological parameters, we calculate the detection rate of TDEs for various surveys which is then fit with the observed TDE rates to extract the Schechter parameters. The rate tension between observation (∼10−5yr−1) and theory (∼10−4yr−1 for individual galaxies is explained by the statistical average over the BHMF.

Several extragalactic HI surveys using a λ21 cm 13-beam focal plane array will begin in early 1997 using the Parkes 64 m telescope. These surveys are designed to detect efficiently nearby galaxies that have failed to be identified optically because of low optical surface brightness or high optical extinction. We discuss scientific and technical aspects of the multibeam receiver, including astronomical objectives, feed, receiver and correlator design and data acquisition. A comparison with other telescopes shows that the Parkes multibeam receiver has significant speed advantages for any large-area λ21 cm galaxy survey in the velocity range range 0–14000 km s−1.

We exploit the Herschel Extragalactic Multi-Tiered Survey (HerMES) dataset along with ancillary multi-wavelength photometry and spectroscopy from the Spitzer Data Fusion to provide the most accurate determination to date of the local (0.02<z<0.5) Far-Infrared Luminosity and Star Formation Rate Function. We present and compare our results with model predictions as well as other multi-wavelength estimates of the local star formation rate density.

With the combination of deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging and magnification due to gravitational lensing, the Hubble Frontier Fields program offers an unprecedented opportunity to study the faint end of the luminosity function at the highest redshifts. Unfortunately, the region of the field that benefits most from this magnification (the immediate vicinity of the critical line) suffers from a high abundance of bright foreground galaxies and high background due to intracluster light. To overcome these difficulties, some method of modelling and subtracting the foreground light is required. Here, I present results using wavelet decomposition to subtract large-scale structures in the clusters, which significantly increases the effective depth of the images, and crucially opens up the most magnified regions of the clusters.

We present preliminary results from MUSE on the Lyα luminosity function in the Hubble Deep Field South (HDFS). Using a large homogeneous sample of LAEs selected through blind spectroscopy, we utilise the unprecedented detection power of MUSE to study the progenitors of L* galaxies back to when the Universe was just ~2 Gyr old. We present these results in the context of the current literature, and highlight the importance of the forthcoming Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) study with MUSE, which will increase the size of our sample by a factor of ~ 10.

We describe modifications to the joint stepwise maximum likelihood method of Cole (2011) in order to simultaneously fit the GAMA-II galaxy luminosity function (LF), corrected for radial density variations, and its evolution with redshift. The whole sample is reasonably well-fit with luminosity (Q) and density (P) evolution parameters Q, P ≈ 0.8, 1.7. Red galaxies show larger luminosity but smaller density evolution than blue galaxies, as expected.

Extreme value statistics (EVS) is applied to the pixelized distribution of galaxy luminosities in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We analyze the DR8 Main Galaxy Sample (MGS) as well as the Luminous Red Galaxy Sample (LRGS). A non-parametric comparison of the EVS of the luminosities with the Fisher-Tippett-Gumbel distribution (limit distribution for independent variables distributed by the Press-Schechter law) indicates a good agreement provided uncertainties arising both from the finite size of the samples and from the sample size distribution are accounted for. This effectively rules out the possibility of having a finite maximum cutoff luminosity.

We present a new galaxy survey simulation package, which combines the power of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling with a robust and adaptable model of galaxy evolution. The aim of this code is to aid in the characterization and study of new and existing galaxy surveys. In this paper we briefly describe the MCMC implementation and the survey simulation methodology and associated tools. A test case of this full suite was to constrain the evolution of the IR Luminosity Function (LF) based on the HerMES (Herschel SPIRE) survey of the Spitzer First Look Survey field. The initial results are consistent with previous studies, but our more general approach should be of wider benefit to the community.

A summary of the main results from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey of over 221 000 galaxies on the galaxy luminosity function and its dependence on surface brightness, spectral type, environment, and local density.

The history of the formation of galaxies must leave an imprint in the properties of the mass function of collapsed objects and in its observational manifestation, the galaxy luminosity function. At present the faint end of the luminosity function is poorly known. Accurate knowledge of the luminosity function over the full range of galaxy clustering scales would provide serious constraints on both initial cosmological conditions and modulating astrophysical processes.

Wide field imaging surveys with large ground-based telescopes now provide the capability to identify dwarf galaxy candidates to very faint levels (μR ≈ 26 mag arcsec–2), too low in surface brightness for spectroscopy (measuring redshifts) even with telescopes like Keck. Other means have to be explored to get distance information for these candidates in order to separate cluster members from back/foreground systems beyond doubt. On the quest to establish the properties (slope and possible turning point) of the the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function we are employing the surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) method to determine adequate distances, potentially resulting in the best definition ever of the luminosity function to MR ≈ –11 in the cluster and group environments.

We review very strong selection effects which operate against the detection of dim (i.e. low surface brightness) galaxies. The Parkes multibeam instrument offers a wonderful opportunity to turn up new populations of such galaxies. However, to explore the newly accessible parameter space, it will be necessary to survey both a very deep patch (105 s/pointing, limiting Nhi ∼ 1018 cm−2) and a deep patch (104 s/pointing, limiting Nhi ∼ 3 × 1018 cm−2) in carefully selected areas, and we outline the case to do this.

As a pilot survey for the forthcoming 6dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, spectroscopy of galaxies selected in the 1.2 micron J waveband with the DENIS imaging survey was performed at the UKST using the FLAIR II multi-object spectroscope. Sixty-nine galaxy redshifts were obtained in a high galactic latitude field and an additional 12 redshifts in a low galactic latitude (b = 17˚), obscured field. This spectroscopic followup of NIR selected galaxies illustrates the feasibility of obtaining redshifts with optical spectra on galaxies selected at much longer wavelengths. It validated a very preliminary algorithm for star/galaxy separation for high galactic latitude DENIS objects, with 99% reliability for J <13.9. The FLAIR II redshifts are in excellent agreement with those, previously published, of 20 common galaxies. However, the FLAIR II redshift determinations presented here required substantially longer integration times to achieve 90% completeness than expected from previous optical surveys at comparable depth. This is mainly due to a degradation in overall fibre throughput due to known problems with ageing of the prism–cement–fibre interface with exposure to UV light. In comparison to our high galactic latitude field, our low latitude (high extinction) field required 2.5 times more exposure time for less than 50% of successful redshift measurements.

Among the J ≤ 13.9 galaxies with measured redshifts, only 376% display emission lines, in comparison with 60% of emission line galaxies in optical samples of comparable depth. These galaxies are, on average, half a magnitude bluer in B-J than galaxies of the same luminosity without emission lines. We confirm a previous optically-based result that the fraction of galaxies with emission lines increases rapidly with decreasing galaxy luminosity. The J band luminosity function is estimated. Our high latitude field displays a concentration of galaxies at cz ≲ 38 000 km s−1 suggesting a possible supercluster.A radial velocity is reported for a galaxy lying near the projected centre of the Abell 1434 cluster of galaxies, for which no cluster redshift is currently available.

With the advent of large-scale surveys (i.e. Legacy Surveys) it is now possible to start looking beyond the galaxy luminosity function (LF) to more detailed statistical representations of the galaxy population, i.e multivariate distributions. In this review I first summarise the current state-of-play of the B-band global and cluster LFs and then briefly present two promising bivariate distributions: the luminosity–surface brightness plane (LSP) and the colour–luminosity plane (CLP). In both planes galaxy bulges and galaxy disks form marginally overlapping but distinct distributions, indicating two key formation/evolutionary processes (presumably merger and accretion). Forward progress in this subject now requires the routine application of reliable bulge–disk decomposition codes to allow independent investigation of these two key components.

Some recent observations seem to disagree with hierarchical theories of galaxy formation on the role of major mergers in a late build-up of massive early-type galaxies. We re-address this question by analysing the morphology, structural distortion level, and star formation enhancement of a sample of massive galaxies (M* > 5 × 1010M⊙) lying on the Red Sequence and its surroundings at 0.3 < z < 1.5. We have used an initial sample of ~1800 sources with Ks < 20.5 mag over an area ~155 arcmin2 on the Groth Strip, combining data from the Rainbow Extragalactic Database and the GOYA Survey. Red galaxy classes that can be directly associated to intermediate stages of major mergers and to their final products have been defined. For the first time we report observationally the existence of a dominant evolutionary path among massive red galaxies at 0.6 < z < 1.5, consisting in the conversion of irregular disks into irregular spheroids, and of these ones into regular spheroids. This result points to: 1) the massive red regular galaxies at low redshifts derive from the irregular ones populating the Red Sequence and its neighbourhood at earlier epochs up to z ~ 1.5; 2) the progenitors of the bulk of present-day massive red regular galaxies have been blue disks that have migrated to the Red Sequence majoritarily through major mergers at 0.6 < z < 1.2 (these mergers thus starting at z ~ 1.5); 3) the formation of E-S0's that end up with M* > 1011M⊙ at z = 0 through gas-rich major mergers has frozen since z ~ 0.6. Our results support that major mergers have played the dominant role in the definitive build-up of present-day E-S0's with M* > 1011M⊙ at 0.6 < z < 1.2, in good agreement with the hierarchical scenario proposed in the Eliche-Moral et al. (2010a) model (see also Eliche-Moral et al. 2010b). This study is published in Prieto et al. (2012).

Supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) under projects AYA2009-10368, AYA2006-12955, AYA2010-21887-C04-04, and AYA2009-11137, by the Madrid Regional Government through the AstroMadrid Project (CAM S2009/ESP-1496), and by the Spanish MICINN under the Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Program grant CSD2006-00070: “First Science with the GTC” (http://www.iac.es/consolider-ingenio-gtc/). S. D. H. & G.

Even though attenuation by dust strongly attenuates and reddens the UV/optical spectral energy distributions of spiral galaxies, quantifying these effects is challenging, particularly when, as is most often the case, infrared measurements of the absorbed energy are not available. We have initiated a study to model the dependence on inclination of the attenuation of light from galaxies measured in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. We present preliminary results using SDSS galaxies in the phase-I GAMA catalogue, comparing observed attenuation-inclination relations with the predictions of the radiation transfer model of Popescu et al. (2011) to derive a statistical measurement of the mean face-on B-band optical depth of disks τfB in a sample of spiral galaxies complete to the SDSS spectroscopic r-band limit of 17.8 mag.

We present the first determination of the 18 μm luminosity function (LF) of galaxies at 0.006 < z < 0.7 (the average redshift is ~ 0.04) using the AKARI mid-infrared All-Sky Survey catalogue. We have selected a 18 μm flux-limited sample of 243 galaxies from the catalogue in the SDSS spectroscopic region. We then classified the sample into four types; Seyfert 1 galaxies (including QSOs), Seyfert 2 galaxies, LINERs and Star-Forming galaxies using mainly [OIII]/Hβ vs. [NII]/Hα line ratios obtained from the SDSS.

As a result of constructing Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 LFs, we found the following results; (i) the number density ratio of Seyfert 2s to Seyfert 1s is 3.98 ± 0.41 obtained from Sy1 and Sy2 LFs; this value is larger than the results obtained from optical LFs. (ii) the fraction of Sy2s in the entire AGNs may be anti-correlated with 18 μm luminosity. These results suggest that the torus structure probably depends on the mid-infrared luminosity of AGNs and most of the AGNs in the local Universe are obscured by dust.