The faint-end of the galaxy luminosity function in groups

Abstract

We compute the galaxy luminosity function in spectroscopically selected nearby groups and clusters. Our sample comprises 728 systems extracted from the third release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in the redshift range $0.03 < z < 0.06$ with virial mass range $10^{11}M_\odot < M_{vir} < 2\times 10^{14}M_\odot$. In order to compute the galaxy luminosity function, we apply a statistical background subtraction method following usually adopted techniques. In the $r$ band, the composite galaxy luminosity function shows a slope $α=-1.3$ in the bright--end, and an upturn of the slope in the faint--end, $M_r\ga -18+5log(h)$, to slopes $-1.9<α<-1.6$. We find that this feature is present also in the $i,g$ and $z$ bands, and for all explored group subsamples, irrespective of the group mass, number of members, integrated color or the presence of a hot intra-cluster gas associated to X-ray emission.