Open AccessThe Munich Near‐Infrared Cluster Survey – V. The evolution of the rest‐frame K ‐ and J ‐band galaxy luminosity functions to z ∼ 0.7
Author(s) -
Feulner Georg,
Bender Ralf,
Drory Niv,
Hopp Ulrich,
Snigula Jan,
Hill Gary J.
Publication year - 2003
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.1365-8711.2003.06576.x
Subject(s) - physics , redshift , astrophysics , galaxy , luminosity function , rest frame , luminosity , hubble deep field , redshift survey , galaxy cluster , astronomy , luminous infrared galaxy
We present spectroscopic follow‐up observations of galaxies from the Munich Near‐Infrared Cluster Survey (MUNICS). MUNICS is a wide‐field medium‐deep K ′‐band‐selected survey covering 1 deg 2 in the near‐infrared K ′ and J passbands, and 0.35 deg 2 in I , R , V , and, recently completed, B . The spectroscopic sample comprises observations of objects down to a limit of K ′≤ 17.5 in five survey fields (0.17 deg 2 in total), and a sparsely selected deeper sample ( K ′≤ 19.0) constructed in one of the survey patches (0.03 deg 2 ). Here we describe the selection procedure of objects for spectroscopic observations, the observations themselves, the data reduction and the construction of the spectroscopic catalogue containing roughly 500 galaxies with secure redshifts. Furthermore, we discuss global properties of the sample such as its distribution in colour–redshift space, the accuracy of redshift determination, and the completeness function of the data. We derive the rest‐frame K ′‐band luminosity function of galaxies at median redshifts of z = 0.2, 0.4 and 0.7. We find evidence for mild evolution of magnitudes (Δ M * K ≃−0.70 mag) and number densities (ΔΦ* K /Φ* K ≃−0.35) to a redshift of unity. Furthermore, we present the rest‐frame J ‐band luminosity function of galaxies at these redshifts, the first determination of this quantity at higher redshifts, with a behaviour similar to the K ‐band luminosity function.