1994/09/22 by Matthew Colless, Colless, Matthew
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/9409054
Invited review, 35th Herstmonceux Conference, "Wide Field Spectroscopy and the Distant Universe", 11 pages, uuencoded compressed Postscript file, also via anonymous ftp from mso.anu.edu.au as pub/colless/hx35.ps.Z
arxiv created 1994/09/22 · openalex publication_date 1994/09/22 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The optical luminosity function is a fundamental characterization of the galaxy population. A combination of earlier redshift surveys with two new surveys allows the first accurate determination of the evolution of the luminosity function with redshift, and reveals a marked steepening of the faint end slope. This effect is more profound for star-forming galaxies - there are 5-10 times as many star-forming galaxies at z~0.5 as there are locally. These results, together with high-resolution imaging and linewidth velocity measurements, support the view that the excess of star-forming galaxies at moderate redshift represents a general increase in the star-formation rate of normal galaxies rather than a distinct new population. This increase in star-formation appears in lower-L galaxies at lower redshift and only appears in L* galaxies at z>0.5. Imaging studies provide indirect evidence which suggests that interactions are responsible for a large part of this increased activity.