Issue |
A&A
Volume 382, Number 2, FebruaryI 2002
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 495 - 502 | |
Section | Cosmology (including clusters of galaxies) | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20011636 | |
Published online | 15 February 2002 |
Dim galaxies and outer halos of galaxies missed by 2MASS? The near–infrared luminosity function and density
INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy
Corresponding author: andreon@brera.mi.astro.it
Received:
24
August
2001
Accepted:
6
November
2001
By using high–resolution and deep Ks band observations of
early–type galaxies of the nearby Universe and of a cluster at we show
that the two luminosity functions (LFs) of the local universe derived from
2MASS data miss a fair fraction of the flux of the galaxies (more than 20 to 30%) and a whole population of galaxies of central brightness fainter than the
isophote used for detection, but bright enough to be included in the published
LFs. In particular, the fraction of lost flux increases as the galaxy
surface brightness become fainter.
Therefore, the so far derived LF slopes and characteristic luminosity as
well as luminosity density are underestimated. Other published near–infrared
LFs miss flux in general, including the LF of the distant field computed in a
3 arcsec aperture.
Key words: galaxies: evolution / galaxies: clusters: general / X-rays: general
© ESO, 2002
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