The near infrared luminosity function of the Norma Cluster

Skelton, R.E

The near infrared luminosity function of the Norma Cluster

Thesis / Dissertation

2007

Abstract

In this thesis, a near infrared KB-band photometric catalogue of galaxies in the Nonna cluster is presented. The survey of the cluster covers an area of '" 0.8h702 Mpc2, and is estimated to be complete to a magnitude of MK. ⋨-19 mag; this extends into the dwarf regime, 6 magnitudes below M'k •. The catalogue contains 390 objects, 235 of which are classified as likely or definite galaxies and 155 as candidate galaxies. The K.,-band luminosity function (LF) is constructed from the photometric sample, using a smaller spectroscopic survey to estimate the number of member galaxies at each magnitude. A Schechter function provides a reasonable fit to the data, with a characteristic magnitude of M'k. = -25.36 ± 0.74 mag and faint-end slope of a = -1.25 ± 0.10. There is a distinct dip in the LF at MK. '" -22 mag. The shape of the LF is similar to those found in previous determinations of the cluster LF, in both optical and near infrared. The Schechter parameters obtained by flagging the dip point agree well with those of recent field LFs. This suggests that both the shape of the bright end and the faint end slope are relatively insensitive to environment.

Keywords

Astronomy

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