The Faint End of the Luminosity Function in Abell 426 and 539

Abstract

We derive $I$ band luminosity functions for galaxies in Abell 426 (Perseus and Abell 539, two rich, low galactic latitude clusters at moderate redshift. Cluster members are selected via the color-magnitude relation for bright galaxies. We find $\alpha=-1.56 \pm 0.07$ for Perseus over the range $-19.4 < M_I < -13.4$ ($15 < I < 21$) and $\alpha=-1.42 \pm 0.14$ for $-18.5 < M_I < -14$ ($17 < I < 21.5$) for A539. These LF's are similar to those derived in Virgo and Fornax, weakly supporting claims for the existence of a universal luminosity function for galaxies in clusters.