2005/09/15 by Marcin Sawicki, David Thompson, Sawicki, Marcin +2
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0509473
To appear in the proceedings of "The Fabulous Destiny of Galaxies: Bridging the Past and Present"
arxiv created 2005/09/15 · openalex publication_date 2005/09/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We use very deep (Rlim=27) UGRI imaging to study the evolution of the faint end of the UV-selected galaxy luminosity function from z~4 to z~2. We find that the luminosity function evolves with time and that this evolution is differential with luminosity: the number of sub-L* galaxies increases from z~4 to z~3 by at least a factor of 2.3, while the bright end of the LF remains unchanged. Potential systematic biases restrict our ability to draw strong conclusions at lower redshifts, z~2, but we can say that the number density of sub-L* galaxies at z~2.2 is at least as high as it is at z~3. Turning to the UV luminosity density of the Universe, we find that the luminosity density starts dropping with increasing redshift already beginning at z=3 (earlier than recently thought - Steidel et al. 1999) and that this drop is dominated by the same sub-L* galaxies that dominate the evolution of the LF. This differential evolution of the luminosity function suggests that differentially comparing key diagnostics of dust, stellar populations, etc. as a function of z and L should let us isolate the key mechanisms that drive galaxy evolution at high redshift.