2016MNRAS.461.1131M -
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 461, 1131-1153 (2016/September-2)
The high-mass end of the red sequence at z ∼ 0.55 from SDSS-III/BOSS: completeness, bimodality and luminosity function.
MONTERO-DORTA A.D., BOLTON A.S., BROWNSTEIN J.R., SWANSON M., DAWSON K., PRADA F., EISENSTEIN D., MARASTON C., THOMAS D., COMPARAT J., CHUANG C., McBRIDE C.K., FAVOLE G., GUO H., RODRIGUEZ-TORRES S. and SCHNEIDER D.P.
Abstract (from CDS):
We have developed an analytical method based on forward-modelling techniques to characterize the high-mass end of the red sequence (RS) galaxy population at redshift z ∼ 0.55, from the DR10 BOSS (Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey) CMASS spectroscopic sample, which comprises ∼600 000 galaxies. The method, which follows an unbinned maximum likelihood approach, allows the deconvolution of the intrinsic CMASS colour-colour-magnitude distributions from photometric errors and selection effects. This procedure requires modelling the covariance matrix for the i-band magnitude, g - r colour and r - i colour using Stripe 82 multi-epoch data. Our results indicate that the error-deconvolved intrinsic RS distribution is consistent, within the photometric uncertainties, with a single point (<0.05 mag) in the colour-colour plane at fixed magnitude, for a narrow redshift slice. We have computed the high-mass end (0.55Mi <= -22) of the 0.55i-band RS luminosity function (RS LF) in several redshift slices within the redshift range 0.52 < z < 0.63. In this narrow redshift range, the evolution of the RS LF is consistent, within the uncertainties in the modelling, with a passively evolving model with Φ*=(7.248±0.204) x 10^- 4^ Mpc–3 mag–1, fading at a rate of 1.5±0.4 mag per unit redshift. We report RS completeness as a function of magnitude and redshift in the CMASS sample, which will facilitate a variety of galaxy-evolution and clustering studies using BOSS. Our forward-modelling method lays the foundations for future studies using other dark-energy surveys like the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey or the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, which are affected by the same type of photometric blurring/selection effects.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2016 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society
Journal keyword(s):
methods: analytical - methods: statistical - surveys - galaxies: evolution - galaxies: luminosity function, mass function - galaxies: statistics - galaxies: statistics
Simbad objects:
2
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