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I. Jorgensen (Gemini Obs.), G. J. Hill, M. P. Bergmann (McDonald Obs.), R. Elston (Florida), D. Vanden Berk (Fermi Lab.), J. S. Jurcevic (McDonald Obs.)
We present a comparison of the luminosity functions for low redshift field and cluster galaxies. The luminosity functions are established for field galaxies in UBVRI, and for galaxies in the Coma cluster in UBRI.
The field galaxy sample is drawn from The Texas Deep Sky Survey (TDSS) of a 2.1 by 2.1 sq. deg. area around the North Galactic Pole. More than 40000 objects have been detected in our survey of this area. We have obtained spectra of approximately 700 galaxies, making the redshift information complete to a total R magnitude of 18.5 mag. We have surveyed the central square degree of the Coma cluster in UBRI. Approximately 16000 objects have been detected in our survey. We have obtained spectra for 220 galaxies in the area with no previous measurements. Together with published data these observations make the redshift information complete for galaxies brighter than a total R magnitude of 17.5. A total of 480 members of the cluster have measured redshifts, while 180 background and foreground galaxies in the field have measured redshifts.
The accurate determination of the luminosity functions for low redshift galaxies is important for the interpretation of luminosity functions established for higher redshift galaxies, both in clusters and in the field.
This research was supported in part by NASA through grant number HF-01073.01.94A to IJ from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: ijorgensen@gemini.edu