Open AccessThe bright end of the luminosity function of red sequence galaxies
Author(s) -
Loh YeongShang,
Strauss Michael A.
Publication year - 2006
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 - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09714.x
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , luminosity function , luminosity , galaxy , astronomy , luminous infrared galaxy , redshift , sky , galaxy cluster
We study the bright end of the luminosity distribution of galaxies in fields with luminous red galaxies (LRG) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Using 2099 deg 2 of SDSS imaging data, we search for luminous (≳ L *) early‐type galaxies within 1.0 h −1 Mpc of a volume‐limited sample of 12 608 spectroscopic LRG in the redshift range 0.12 < z < 0.38 . Most of these objects lie in rich environments, with the LRG being the brightest object within 1.0 h −1 Mpc . The luminosity gap, M 12 , between the first‐ and second‐ranked galaxies within 1.0 h −1 Mpc is large (∼0.8 mag), substantially larger than can be explained with an exponentially decaying luminosity function of galaxies. The brightest member is less luminous (by 0.1–0.2 mag) and shows a larger gap in LRG selected groups than in cluster‐like environments. The large luminosity gap shows little evolution with redshift to z = 0.4 , ruling out the scenario that these LRG selected brightest cluster or group galaxies grow by recent cannibalism of cluster members.