Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): The galaxy stellar mass function at z < 0.06

Abstract

We determine the low-redshift field galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) using an area of 143deg2 from the first three years of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. The magnitude limits of this redshift survey are r < 19.4mag over two-thirds and 19.8mag over one-third of the area. The GSMF is determined from a sample of 5210 galaxies using a density-corrected maximum volume method. This efficiently overcomes the issue of fluctuations in the number density versus redshift. With H0= 70kms-1Mpc-1, the GSMF is well described between 108 and 1011.5M⊙ using a double Schechter function with M* = 1010.66 M⊙, π1* = 3.96 × 10-3 Mpc-3, α1=-0.35, π2* = 0.79 × 10-3 Mpc-3 and α2=-1.47. This result is more robust to uncertainties in the flow-model corrected redshifts than from the shallower Sloan Digital Sky Survey main sample (r < 17.8mag). The upturn in the GSMF is also seen directly in the i-band and K-band galaxy luminosity functions. Accurately measuring the GSMF below 108M⊙ is possible within the GAMA survey volume but as expected requires deeper imaging data to address the contribution from low surface-brightness galaxies. Show more