Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the galaxy stellar mass function at z < 0.06

2011/11/30 by I. K. Baldry, S. P. Driver, J. Loveday +18 · 376 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Field galaxy #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Luminosity #Luminosity function #Redshift #Redshift survey #Sky #Space Technology and Applications #Stellar mass #Surface brightness fluctuation #astro-ph.CO

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20340.x

published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, no (Oxford University Press) · v2; 15 pages, 17 figures, accepted by MNRAS, references updated, minor changes

openalex publication_date 2012/02/01 · arxiv created 2012/02/14 · arxiv updated 2015/06/03 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We determine the low-redshift field galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) using an area of 143 deg2 from the first three years of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. The magnitude limits of this redshift survey are r < 19.4 mag over two-thirds and 19.8 mag over one-third of the area. The GSMF is determined from a sample of 5210 galaxies using a density-corrected maximum volume method. This efficiently overcomes the issue of fluctuations in the number density versus redshift. With H0= 70 km s−1 Mpc−1, the GSMF is well described between 108 and 1011.5 M⊙ using a double Schechter function with ⁠, ⁠, α1=−0.35, and α2=−1.47. This result is more robust to uncertainties in the flow-model corrected redshifts than from the shallower Sloan Digital Sky Survey main sample (r < 17.8 mag). The upturn in the GSMF is also seen directly in the i-band and K-band galaxy luminosity functions. Accurately measuring the GSMF below 108 M⊙ is possible within the GAMA survey volume but as expected requires deeper imaging data to address the contribution from low surface-brightness galaxies.

Citations

• [ITAL]V[/ITAL]- and [ITAL]R[/ITAL]-band Galaxy Luminosity Functions and Low Surface Brightness Galaxies in the Century Survey
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): stellar mass estimates
• The Environmental Dependence of the Infrared Luminosity and Stellar Mass Functions
• The Solar Motion Relative to the Local Group
• Shapley Optical Survey - I. Luminosity functions in the supercluster environment
• The dwarf LSB galaxy population of the Virgo cluster -- I. The faint-end slope of the luminosity function
• PAndAS' cubs: discovery of two new dwarf galaxies in the surroundings of the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies
• CONNECTING GALAXIES, HALOS, AND STAR FORMATION RATES ACROSS COSMIC TIME
• The Luminosity Function of the Milky Way Satellites
• K-Corrections and Filter Transformations in the Ultraviolet, Optical, and Near-Infrared
• Hydrodynamic Simulations of Galaxy Formation. II. Photoionization and the Formation of Low-Mass Galaxies
• STELLAR MASS-TO-LIGHT RATIOS FROM GALAXY SPECTRA: HOW ACCURATE CAN THEY BE?
• The bivariate brightness function of galaxies and a demonstration of the impact of surface brightness selection effects on luminosity function estimations
• Near-infrared and optical luminosity functions from the 6dF Galaxy Survey
• The host galaxies of radio-loud active galactic nuclei: mass dependences, gas cooling and active galactic nuclei feedback
• Breaking the hierarchy of galaxy formation
• The 2dF galaxy redshift survey: near-infrared galaxy luminosity functions
• The Sixth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Evidence for TP‐AGB Stars in High‐Redshift Galaxies, and Their Effect on Deriving Stellar Population Parameters
• On the variation of the initial mass function
• Including star formation and supernova feedback within cosmological simulations of galaxy formation
• Simulations of the formation, evolution and clustering of galaxies and quasars
• Feedback and recycled wind accretion: assembling the z= 0 galaxy mass function
• The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: the bJ-band galaxy luminosity function and survey selection function
• Quantifying the Bimodal Color‐Magnitude Distribution of Galaxies
• The star formation histories of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Galaxy stellar mass functions of different morphological types in clusters, and their evolution between z= 0.8 and 0
• The dipole anisotropy of the 2 Micron All-Sky Redshift Survey
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• A Catalog of Neighboring Galaxies
• The Dipole Observed in the COBE DMR 4 Year Data
• zCOSMOS – 10k-bright spectroscopic sample
• Modelling the spectral energy distribution of galaxies

Cited by

• Tracking the assembly of supermassive black holes: a comparison of diverse models across cosmic time
• The massive end of the luminosity and stellar mass functions: dependence on the fit to the light profile