Open AccessEvolution of the luminosity function and colours of galaxies in a Λ cold dark matter universe
Author(s) -
Nagamine K.,
Fukugita M.,
Cen R.,
Ostriker J.P.
Publication year - 2001
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.1365-8711.2001.04905.x
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , luminosity function , mass to light ratio , astronomy , cold dark matter , galaxy , dark matter , luminosity , dark matter halo , galaxy formation and evolution , redshift , halo
The luminosity function of galaxies is derived from a cosmological hydrodynamic simulation of a Λ cold dark matter universe with the aid of a stellar population synthesis model. At , the resulting B ‐band luminosity function has a flat faint‐end slope of with the characteristic luminosity and the normalization in fair agreement with observations, while the dark matter halo mass function is steep with a slope of . The colour distribution of galaxies also agrees well with local observations. We also discuss the evolution of the luminosity function, and the colour distribution of galaxies from to 5. A large evolution of the characteristic mass in the stellar mass function as a result of number evolution is compensated by luminosity evolution; the characteristic luminosity increases only by 0.8 mag from to 2, and then declines towards higher redshift, while the B ‐band luminosity density continues to increase from to 5 (but only slowly at .