Hubble Space TelescopeImaging of the CFRS and LDSS Redshift Surveys. I. Morphological Properties
Author(s) -
J. Brinchmann,
Roberto Abraham,
D. Schade,
L. Tresse,
Richard S. Ellis,
S. J. Lilly,
O. Le Fèvre,
Karl Glazebrook,
F. Hammer,
Matthew Colless,
D. Crampton,
Tom Broadhurst
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
the astrophysical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376
H-Index - 489
eISSN - 1538-4357
pISSN - 0004-637X
DOI - 10.1086/305621
Subject(s) - redshift , astrophysics , physics , luminosity function , galaxy , redshift survey , luminosity , astronomy , hubble space telescope , hubble ultra deep field , hubble deep field
(Abridged) We analyse Hubble Space Telescope images of a complete sample of341 galaxies drawn from both the Canada France and Autofib/Low DispersionSurvey Spectrograph ground-based redshift surveys. We discuss morphologicalclassifications of these galaxies, and quantify possible biases that may arisefrom various redshift-dependent effects. We then discuss these biases in thecontext of automated classifications, and quantify the expectedmisclassification in our system. After allowing for such biases, the redshiftdistribution for normal spirals, together with their luminosity functionderived as a function of redshift, indicates approximately 1 magnitude ofluminosity evolution in B(AB) by z=1. The elliptical sample is too small forprecise evolutionary constraints. However, we find a substantial increase inthe proportion of galaxies with irregular morphology at large redshift. Thesegalaxies also appear to be the dominant cause of the rapid rise with redshiftin the blue luminosity density identified in the redshift surveys. Althoughgalaxies with irregular morphology may well comprise a mixture of differentphysical systems and might not correspond to present day irregulars, it isclear that the apparently declining abundance and luminosities of our distant``irregulars'' holds an important key to understanding recent evolution in thestar formation history of normal galaxies.Comment: 51 pages (14 PS-figures, 3 figures as GIFs) To be published in in Ap
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