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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the dependence of the galaxy luminosity function on environment, redshift and colour

McNaught-Roberts, T.; Norberg, P.; Baugh, C.; Lacey, C.; Loveday, J.; Peacock, J.; Baldry, I.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brough, S.; Driver, S.P.; Robotham, A.S.G.; Vázquez-Mata, J.A.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the dependence of the galaxy luminosity function on environment, redshift and colour Thumbnail


Authors

T. McNaught-Roberts

P. Norberg

C. Baugh

C. Lacey

J. Loveday

J. Peacock

I. Baldry

J. Bland-Hawthorn

S. Brough

S.P. Driver

A.S.G. Robotham

J.A. Vázquez-Mata



Abstract

We use 80 922 galaxies in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey to measure the galaxy luminosity function (LF) in different environments over the redshift range 0.04 < z < 0.26. The depth and size of GAMA allows us to define samples split by colour and redshift to measure the dependence of the LF on environment, redshift and colour. We find that the LF varies smoothly with overdensity, consistent with previous results, with little environmental dependent evolution over the last 3 Gyr. The modified GALFORM model predictions agree remarkably well with our LFs split by environment, particularly in the most overdense environments. The LFs predicted by the model for both blue and red galaxies are consistent with GAMA for the environments and luminosities at which such galaxies dominate. Discrepancies between the model and the data seen in the faint end of the LF suggest too many faint red galaxies are predicted, which is likely to be due to the over-quenching of satellite galaxies. The excess of bright blue galaxies predicted in underdense regions could be due to the implementation of AGN feedback not being sufficiently effective in the lower mass haloes.

Citation

McNaught-Roberts, T., Norberg, P., Baugh, C., Lacey, C., Loveday, J., Peacock, J., …Vázquez-Mata, J. (2014). Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the dependence of the galaxy luminosity function on environment, redshift and colour. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 445(2), 2125-2145. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1886

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Dec 1, 2014
Deposit Date Nov 24, 2014
Publicly Available Date Nov 26, 2014
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 445
Issue 2
Pages 2125-2145
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1886
Keywords Galaxies: evolution, Galaxies: luminosity function, mass function, Galaxies: structure.

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2014 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.




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