The ALHAMBRA survey(star) : B-band luminosity function of quiescent and star-forming galaxies at 0.2 <= z < 1 by PDF analysis

Author(s):Show less -

Lopez-Sanjuan, C. ; Tempel, E. ; Benitez, N. ; Molino, A. ; Viironen, K. ; Diaz-Garcia, L. A. ; Fernandez-Soto, A. ; Santos, W. A. ; Varela, J. ; Cenarro, A. J. ; Moles, M. ; Arnalte-Mur, P. ; Ascaso, B. ; Montero-Dorta, A. D. ; Povic, M. ; Martinez, V. J. ; Nieves-Seoane, L. ; Stefanon, M. ; Hurtado-Gil, Ll. ; Marquez, I. ; Perea, J. ; Aguerri, J. A. L. ; Alfaro, E. ; Aparicio-Villegas, T. ; Broadhurst, T. ; Cabrera-Cano, J. ; Castander, F. J. ; Cepa, J. ; Cervino, M. ; Cristobal-Hornillos, D. ; Gonzalez-Delgado, R. M. ; Husillos, C. ; Infante, L. ; Masegosa, J. ; Del Olmo, A. ; Prada, F. ; Quintana, J. M.

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Astronomy & Astrophysics; v. 599, MAR 2017.
• Web of Science Citations: 5

Abstract

Aims. Our goal is to study the evolution of the B-band luminosity function (LF) since z similar to 1 using ALHAMBRA data. Methods. We used the photometric redshift and the I-band selection magnitude probability distribution functions (PDFs) of those ALHAMBRA galaxies with I <= 24 mag to compute the posterior LF. We statistically studied quiescent and star-forming galaxies using the template information encoded in the PDFs. The LF covariance matrix in redshift - magnitude - galaxy type space was computed, including the cosmic variance. That was estimated from the intrinsic dispersion of the LF measurements in the 48 ALHAMBRA sub-fields. The uncertainty due to the photometric redshift prior is also included in our analysis. Results. We modelled the LF with a redshift-dependent Schechter function affected by the same selection effects than the data. The measured ALHAMBRA LF at 0.2 <= z < 1 and the evolving Schechter parameters both for quiescent and star-forming galaxies agree with previous results in the literature. The estimated redshift evolution of M-B(star) alpha Qz is Q(SF) = -1.03 +/- 0.08 and Q(Q) = -0.80 +/- 0.08, and of log(10) phi(star) alpha Pz is P-SF = -0.01 +/- 0.03 and P-Q = -0.41 +/- 0.05. The measured faint-end slopes are alpha(SF) = -1.29 +/- 0.02 and alpha(Q) = -0.53 +/- 0.04. We find a significant population of faint quiescent galaxies with M-B greater than or similar to 18, modelled by a second Schechter function with slope beta = -1.31 +/- 0.11. Conclusions. We present a robust methodology to compute LFs using multi-filter photometric data. The application to ALHAMBRA shows a factor 2.55 +/- 0.14 decrease in the luminosity density j(B) of star-forming galaxies, and a factor 1.25 +/- 0.16 increase in the jB of quiescent ones since z = 1, confirming the continuous build-up of the quiescent population with cosmic time. The contribution of the faint quiescent population to jB increases from 3% at z = 1 to 6% at z = 0. The developed methodology will be applied to future multi-filter surveys such as J-PAS. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/11806-9 - Challenges for the new generation of wide-field photometric redshift surveys like J-PAS
• Grantee: Alberto Molino Benito
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate