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The z=0 Galaxy Luminosity Function: I. Techniques for Identification of Dwarf Galaxies at ~10 Mpc

Kathleen Flint, Anne J. Metevier, Michael Bolte, Claudia Mendes de Oliveira

astro-pharXiv:astro-ph/0101276

Abstract

We present a program to study the galaxy luminosity function (GLF) of the Leo I and Coma I Groups at ~10 Mpc. We have surveyed over seven square degrees in Leo I and ~11 square degrees in Coma I. In this paper, we detail the method we have developed and implemented for identifying on morphological grounds low-surface-brightness, MR < -10 dwarf galaxies at a distance of 10 Mpc. We also describe extensive Montecarlo simulations of artificial galaxies which we use to tune our detection algorithms and evaluate our detection efficiency and parameter recovery as a function of muR(0) and RT. We find for a sub-set of our Leo I data that at the 90% completeness level we can detect dwarfs comparable to Antlia and Sculptor. Finally, we describe preliminary follow-up observations which confirm we are detecting dwarf spheroidals in Leo I at 10 Mpc.

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