Open AccessThe 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: spectral types and luminosity functions
Author(s) -
Folkes Simon,
Ronen Shai,
Price Ian,
Lahav Ofer,
Colless Matthew,
Maddox Steve,
Deeley Kathryn,
Glazebrook Karl,
BlandHawthorn Joss,
Can Russell,
Cole Shaun,
Collins Chris,
Couch Warrick,
Driver Simon P.,
Dalton Gavin,
Efstathiou George,
Ellis Richard S.,
Frenk Carlos S.,
Kaiser Nick,
Lewis Ian,
Lumsden Stuart,
Peacock John,
Peterson Bruce A.,
Sutherland Will,
Taylor Keith
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1999.02721.x
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , luminosity function , galaxy , luminosity , redshift , spectral line , redshift survey , omega , astronomy , quantum mechanics
We describe the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) and the current status of the observations. In this exploratory paper, we apply a principal component analysis to a preliminary sample of 5869 galaxy spectra and use the two most significant components to split the sample into five spectral classes. These classes are defined by considering visual classifications of a subset of the 2dF spectra, and also by comparison with high‐quality spectra of local galaxies. We calculate a luminosity function for each of the different classes and find that later‐type galaxies have a fainter characteristic magnitude, and a steeper faint‐end slope. For the whole sample we find M *=−19.7 (for Ω=1, H 0 =100 km s −1 Mpc −1 ), α =−1.3, φ *=0.017. For class 1 (‘early‐type’) we find M *=−19.6, α =−0.7, while for class 5 (‘late‐type’) we find M *=−19.0, α =−1.7. The derived 2dF luminosity functions agree well with other recent luminosity function estimates.