The Local Space Density of Dwarf Galaxies
Open Access
- 1 November 1997
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Astronomical Society in The Astrophysical Journal
- Vol. 489 (1) , 29-36
- https://doi.org/10.1086/304778
Abstract
We estimate the luminosity function of field galaxies over a range of 10 mag (-22<MBJ<-12 for H0 = 100 km s-1 Mpc-1) by counting the number of faint APM galaxies around Stromlo-APM redshift survey galaxies at known distance. The faint end of the luminosity function rises steeply at MBJ ≈ -15, implying that the space density of dwarf galaxies is at least 2 times larger than predicted by a Schechter function with flat faint-end slope. Such a high abundance of dwarf galaxies at low redshift can help explain the observed number counts and redshift distributions of faint galaxies without invoking exotic models for galaxy evolution.Keywords
All Related Versions
This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Contribution of Late-Type/Irregulars to the Faint Galaxy Counts from Hubble Space Telescope Medium-Deep Survey ImagesThe Astrophysical Journal, 1995
- Resurrection of traditional luminosity evolution models to explain faint fields galaxiesThe Astrophysical Journal, 1995
- Counter-evolution of faint field galaxiesThe Astrophysical Journal, 1993
- Direct construction of the galaxy luminosity function as a function of redshiftThe Astrophysical Journal, 1993
- On dwarf elliptical galaxies and the faint blue countsMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1992
- Faint galaxies: evolution and cosmological curvatureNature, 1992
- Were small galaxies once the dominant cosmological population?Nature, 1991
- Test for the cosmological constant with the number count of faint galaxiesThe Astrophysical Journal, 1990
- The Durham/Anglo–Australian Telescope faint galaxy redshift surveyMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1988
- The Distribution of Faint GalaxiesPublished by Springer Nature ,1987