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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the galaxy stellar mass function at z < 0.06

2012; Oxford University Press; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20340.x

1365-2966

I. K. Baldry, Simon P. Driver, J. Loveday, Edward N. Taylor, L. S. Kelvin, J. Liske, P. Norberg, A. S. G. Robotham, Sarah Brough, Andrew Hopkins, S. P. Bamford, J. A. Peacock, Joss Bland‐Hawthorn, Christopher J. Conselice, S. M. Croom, D. H. P. Jones, H. R. Parkinson, C. C. Popescu, M. Prescott, R. Sharp, R. J. Tuffs,

Scientific Research and Discoveries

We determine the low-redshift field galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) using an area of 143 deg^2 from the first three years of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. The magnitude limits of this redshift survey are r < 19.4 mag over two thirds and 19.8 mag over one third of the area. The GSMF is determined from a sample of 5210 galaxies using a density-corrected maximum volume method. This efficiently overcomes the issue of fluctuations in the number density versus redshift. With H_0 = 70, the GSMF is well described between 10^8 and 10^11.5 Msun using a double Schechter function with mass^* = 10^10.66 Msun, phi_1^* = 3.96 x 10^-3 Mpc^-3, alpha_1 = -0.35, phi_2^* = 0.79 x 10^-3 Mpc^-3 and alpha_2 = -1.47. This result is more robust to uncertainties in the flow-model corrected redshifts than from the shallower Sloan Digital Sky Survey main sample (r < 17.8 mag). The upturn in the GSMF is also seen directly in the i-band and K-band galaxy luminosity functions. Accurately measuring the GSMF below 10^8 Msun is possible within the GAMA survey volume but as expected requires deeper imaging data to address the contribution from low surface-brightness galaxies.