The zCOSMOS survey: the role of the environment in the evolution of the luminosity function of different galaxy types

Understand

(Abridged) We studied the evolution in the B band luminosity function to z~1 in the zCOSMOS 10k sample, for which both accurate galaxy classifications and a detailed description of the local density field are available.

• The global LF exhibits a brightening of ~0.7 mag in M* from z~0.2 to z~0.9.
• At low z, late types dominate at faint magnitudes, while the bright end is populated mainly by early types.
• At higher z, late-type galaxies evolve significantly and, at z~1, the contribution from the various types to the bright end of the LF is comparable.