AAS 201st Meeting, January, 2003
Session 42. Galaxies and Clusters
Poster, Tuesday, January 7, 2003, 9:20am-6:30pm, Exhibit Hall AB

[Previous] | [Session 42] | [Next]

[42.11] The Faint End of the Luminosity Function in the Core of the Coma Cluster

M.L. Milne, C.J. Pritchet (University of Victoria)

We present optical measurements of the faint end of the luminosity function in the core of the Coma cluster. Dwarf galaxies are detected down to a limiting magnitude of MV ~-7.5 in images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. We believe this represents the faintest determination of the Coma luminosity function to date. Evidence is found for a steep faint end slope with \alpha \lesssim -1.75. Such a value is expected in theories in which the epoch of reionization is such that it inhibits dwarf galaxy formation in low density regions, while not affecting high density regions which form dwarfs earlier (Tully et al, 2002).

[Previous] | [Session 42] | [Next]

Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.