The luminosity function of field galaxies and its evolution since z = 1

We present the B-band luminosity function and comoving space and luminosity densities for a sample of 2779 I-band selected field galaxies based on multi-color data from the CADIS survey. The sample is complete down to I₈₁₅ = 22 without correction and with completeness correction extends to I₈₁₅ = 23.0. By means of a new multi-color analysis the objects are classified according to their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and their redshifts are determined with typical errors of δz ≤ 0.03. We have split our sample into four redshift bins between z = 0.1 and z = 1.04 and into three SED bins E-Sa, Sa-Sc and starbursting (emission line) galaxies. The evolution of the luminosity function is clearly differential with SED. The normalization φ* of the luminosity function for the E-Sa galaxies decreases towards higher redshift, and we find evidence that the comoving galaxy space density decreases with redshift as well. In contrast, we find φ* and the comoving space density increasing with redshift for the Sa-Sc galaxies. For the starburst galaxies we find a steepening of the luminosity function at the faint end and their comoving space density increases with redshift.