The 2dF galaxy redshift survey: Spectral types and luminosity functions

Simon Folkes*, Shai Ronen, Ian Price, Ofer Lahav, Matthew Colless, Steve Maddox, Kathryn Deeley, Karl Glazebrook, Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Russell Cannon, Shaun Cole, Chris Collins, Warrick Couch, Simon P. Driver, Gavin Dalton, George Efstathiou, Richard S. Ellis, Carlos S. Frenk, Nick Kaiser, Ian LewisStuart Lumsden, John Peacock, Bruce A. Peterson, Will Sutherland, Keith Taylor

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    238 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    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, H0 = 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.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)459-472
    Number of pages14
    JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
    Volume308
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 11 Sept 1999

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