No Arabic abstract
In this paper we present the first results of deep star counts carried out within the Calar Alto Deep Imaging Survey, CADIS (Meisenheimer 1998). Although CADIS was designed as an extragalactic survey, it also attempts to identify the stars in the fields in order to avoid confusion with quasars and compact galaxies. We have identified a sample of about 300 faint stars 15.5< R < 23), which are well suited to study the structure of the Galaxy. The stars lie in two fields, hereafter 16h and 9h field, respectively. The stars have been separated from galaxies by a classification scheme based on photometric spectra and morphological criteria. Distances were derived by photometric parallaxes. We are able to find stars up to distances of approximately 25 kpc above the Galactic plane. The vertical density distribution of the stars shows the contribution of the thin disk, the stellar halo and the ``thick disk of the Galaxy. We give quantitative descriptions of the components in terms of exponential disks and a de Vaucouleurs spheroid. For the disk stars we derive the luminosity function. It is equal within the errors to the local luminosity function and continues to rise out to at least M_V = 13. Implications for the mass function are briefly discussed.
This paper aims to connect the theory of relativistic cosmology number counts with the astronomical data, practice, and theory behind the galaxy luminosity function (LF). We treat galaxies as the building blocks of the Universe, but ignore most aspects of their internal structures by considering them as point sources. However, we do consider general morphological types in order to use data from galaxy redshift surveys, where some kind of morphological classification is adopted. We start with a general relativistic treatment for a general spacetime, and then link the derived expressions with the LF definition adopted in observational cosmology. Then equations for differential number counts, the related relativistic density per source, and observed and total relativistic energy densities of the universe, and other related quantities are written in terms of the luminosity and selection functions. As an example of how these theoretical/observational relationships can be used, we apply them to test the LF parameters determined from the CNOC2 galaxy redshift survey, for consistency with the Einstein-de Sitter (EdS) cosmology, which they assume, for intermediate redshifts. We conclude that there is a general consistency for the tests we carried out, namely both the observed relativistic mass-energy density, and the observed relativistic mass-energy density per source, which is equivalent to differential number counts, in an EdS Universe. In addition, we find clear evidence of a large amount of hidden mass, as has been obvious from many earlier investigations. At the same time, we find that the CNOC2 LF give differential galaxy counts somewhat above the EdS predictions, indicating that this survey observes more galaxies at 0.1 < z < 0.4 than the models predictions.
We derive the disk I-band luminosity function from the Zheng et al. sample of ~1400 disk M dwarfs observed with the Hubble Space Telescope. We adopt a Galactic-height-dependent color-magnitude relation to account for the metallicity gradient above the Galactic plane. The resultant I-band luminosity function peaks at M_I~9.5 and drops sharply toward M_I~10.5.
(abridged) A detailed comparison is performed of the LFs compiled at infrared, radio and optical wavelengths and converted into XLFs using available relations with the XLF directly estimated in the 0.5--2 keV energy band from X-ray surveys (Norman et al). We find that the XLF from the local sample of IRAS galaxies (Takeuchi et al) provides a good representation of all available data samples; pure luminosity evolution of the form (1+z)^eta, with eta< ~3, is favoured over pure density. The local X-ray luminosity density is also well defined. We discuss different estimates of the galaxies LogN-LogS, selected from the Chandra Deep Fields with different selection criteria: these have similar slopes, but normalisations scattered within a factor ~2, of the same order of the Poissonian error on the counts. We compare the observed LogN-LogS with the counts predicted by integrating our reference z=0 XLF. By using number counts alone, it is not possible to discriminate between density and luminosity evolution; however, the evolution of galaxies must be stopped in both cases at z~1-2. The contribution of galaxies to the X-ray background is found to be in the range 6%--12%. Making use of cosmic star formation models, we find that the X-ray LogN-LogS might be not compatible with very large star formation rates at z ~ 3 as suggested by sub-mm observations in Blain et al. 1999. As to the content of current and, possibly, future X-ray surveys, we determine the fraction of galaxies around the current flux limit: (30+-12 %). At fainter fluxes the fraction of galaxies will probably rise, and overcome the counts from AGN at fluxes < ~10^{-17} erg/s/cm^2.
In this paper we analyse the deep number counts problem, taking account of new observational and theoretical developments. First we show that the new Bruzual and Charlot (1993) models allow a new class of spiral dominated luminosity evolution (LE) model where significant amounts of the luminosity evolution needed to fit faint count data are due to spiral rather than early-type galaxies. Second we show that the inclusion of dust may be a vital ingredient for obtaining fits with any LE model. Third we compare the quality of fit of both the spiral and early-type LE models, including dust, for a wide variety of observational data. We find that parameters can be found for both LE models which allow a good fit to all data with the exception of the faintest B>25 counts in the case of q0=0.5 cosmologies, where some luminosity dependent evolution may be needed (see also Metcalfe et al 1995). Otherwise both these classes of LE model, with the inclusion of dust, provide an excellent foundation for understanding the B<25 galaxy counts and galaxy counts and redshift distributions in a variety of other wavebands.
A pioneering study showed that the fine structure in the luminosity function (LF) of young star clusters contains information about the evolutionary stage (age) and composition of the stellar population. The notable features include the H-peak, which is the result of the onset of hydrogen burning turning pre-main sequence stars into main sequence stars. The feature moves toward the faint end of the LF, and eventually disappears as the population evolves. Another detectable feature is the Wielen dip, a dip at M_V ~ 7 mag in the LF first identified in 1974 for stars in the solar environment. Later studies also identified this feature in the LF of star clusters. The Wielen dip is caused by the increased importance of H- opacity in a certain range of low-mass stars. We studied the detailed structure in the luminosity function using the data from Gaia DR2 and PARSEC stellar evolution models with the aim to further our understanding of young stellar populations. We analyzed the astrometric properties of stars in the solar neighborhood (< 20 pc) and in various relatively nearby (< 400 pc) young (< 50 Myr) open clusters and OB associations, and compare the features in the luminosity function with those generated by PARSEC models. The Wielen dip is confirmed in the LF of all the populations, including the solar neighborhood, at M_G ~7 mag. The H-peak is present in the LF of the field stars in the solar neighborhood. It likely signals that the population is mixed with a significant number of stars younger than 100 Myr. The H-peak is found in the LF of young open clusters and OB associations, and its location varies with age. Our observations with Gaia DR2 confirm the evolution of the H-peak from 5 Myr up to 47 Myr. The fine structure in the luminosity function in young stellar populations can be used to estimate their age.