The Luminosity Function of Galaxies in SDSS Commissioning Data

doi:10.1086/320405

The Astronomical Journal

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The Astronomical Journal Volume 121 Number 5 Create an alert RSS this journal

Michael R. Blanton et al. 2001 The Astronomical Journal 121 2358 doi:10.1086/320405

The Luminosity Function of Galaxies in SDSS Commissioning Data^*

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Michael R. Blanton¹, Julianne Dalcanton², Daniel Eisenstein^3,4, Jon Loveday⁵, Michael A. Strauss⁶, Mark SubbaRao³, David H. Weinberg⁷, John E. Anderson, Jr.¹, James Annis¹, Neta A. Bahcall⁶, Mariangela Bernardi³, J. Brinkmann⁸, Robert J. Brunner⁹, Scott Burles¹, Larry Carey², Francisco J. Castander^3,10, Andrew J. Connolly¹¹, István Csabai¹², Mamoru Doi¹³, Douglas Finkbeiner¹⁴, Scott Friedman¹², Joshua A. Frieman¹, Masataka Fukugita^15,16, James E. Gunn⁶, G. S. Hennessy¹⁷, Robert B. Hindsley¹⁷, David W. Hogg⁶, Takashi Ichikawa¹³, Željko Ivezić⁶, Stephen Kent¹, G. R. Knapp⁶, D. Q. Lamb³, R. French Leger², Daniel C. Long⁸, Robert H. Lupton⁶, Timothy A. McKay¹⁸, Avery Meiksin¹⁹, Aronne Merelli⁹, Jeffrey A. Munn¹⁷, Vijay Narayanan⁶, Matt Newcomb²⁰, R. C. Nichol²⁰, Sadanori Okamura¹³, Russell Owen², Jeffrey R. Pier¹⁷, Adrian Pope¹², Marc Postman²¹, Thomas Quinn², Constance M. Rockosi³, David J. Schlegel⁶, Donald P. Schneider²², Kazuhiro Shimasaku¹³, Walter A. Siegmund², Stephen Smee²³, Yehuda Snir²⁰, Chris Stoughton¹, Christopher Stubbs², Alexander S. Szalay¹², Gyula P. Szokoly²⁴, Aniruddha R. Thakar¹², Christy Tremonti¹², Douglas L. Tucker¹, Alan Uomoto¹², Dan Vanden Berk¹, Michael S. Vogeley²⁵, Patrick Waddell², Brian Yanny¹, Naoki Yasuda²⁶ and Donald G. York³

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¹ Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510
² Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195
³ Astronomy and Astrophysics Center, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637
⁴ Hubble Fellow
⁵ Sussex Astronomy Centre, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QJ, England, UK
⁶ Princeton University Observatory, Princeton, NJ 08544
⁷ Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210
⁸ Apache Point Observatory, 2001 Apache Point Road, P.O. Box 59, Sunspot, NM 88349-0059
⁹ Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
¹⁰ Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, F-31400 Toulouse, France
¹¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, 3941 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
¹² Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218
¹³ Department of Astronomy and Research Center for the Early Universe, School of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
¹⁴ Department of Astronomy, 601 Campbell Hall, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411
¹⁵ Institute for Cosmic-Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Midori, Tanashi, Tokyo 188-8502, Japan
¹⁶ Institute for Advanced Study, Olden Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540
¹⁷ US Naval Observatory, 3450 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20392-5420
¹⁸ Department of Physics, University of Michigan, 500 East University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
¹⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, James Clerk Maxwell Building, The King's Buildings, University of Edinburgh, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, Scotland, UK
²⁰ Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
²¹ Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218
²² Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
²³ Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2421
²⁴ Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, D-14482 Potsdam, Germany
²⁵ Department of Physics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104
²⁶ National Astronomical Observatory, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan

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Abstract References Cited By

In the course of its commissioning observations, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has produced one of the largest redshift samples of galaxies selected from CCD images. Using 11,275 galaxies complete to r* = 17.6 over 140 deg², we compute the luminosity function of galaxies in the r* band over a range -23 < M < -16 (for h = 1). The result is well-described by a Schechter function with parameters phi _* = (1.46 ± 0.12) × 10^-2 h³ Mpc^-3, M_* = -20.83 ± 0.03, and α = -1.20 ± 0.03. The implied luminosity density in r* is j ≈ (2.6 ± 0.3) × 10⁸h L Mpc^-3. We find that the surface brightness selection threshold has a negligible impact for M < -18. Using subsets of the data, we measure the luminosity function in the u*, g*, i*, and z* bands as well; the slope at low luminosities ranges from α = -1.35 to α = -1.2. We measure the bivariate distribution of r* luminosity with half-light surface brightness, intrinsic g*-r* color, and morphology. In agreement with previous studies, we find that high surface brightness, red, highly concentrated galaxies are on average more luminous than low surface brightness, blue, less concentrated galaxies. An important feature of the SDSS luminosity function is the use of Petrosian magnitudes, which measure a constant fraction of a galaxy's total light regardless of the amplitude of its surface brightness profile. If we synthesize results for R_GKC band or b_j band using these Petrosian magnitudes, we obtain luminosity densities 2 times that found by the Las Campanas Redshift Survey in R_GKC and 1.4 times that found by the Two Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey in b_j. However, we are able to reproduce the luminosity functions obtained by these surveys if we also mimic their isophotal limits for defining galaxy magnitudes, which are shallower and more redshift dependent than the Petrosian magnitudes used by the SDSS.

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The Luminosity Function of Galaxies in SDSS Commissioning Data^*