The ESO Slice Project (ESP) galaxy redshift survey: II. The luminosity function and mean galaxy density

The ESO Slice Project (ESP) is a galaxy redshift survey we have recently completed as an ESO Key-Project over about 23 square degrees, in a region near the South Galactic Pole. The survey is nearly complete to the limiting magnitude b_J_=19.4 and consists of 3342 galaxies with reliable redshift determination. The ESP survey is intermediate between shallow, wide angle samples and very deep, one-dimensional pencil beams: spanning a volume of ~5x10^4^h^-3^Mpc^3^ at the sensitivity peak (z~0.1), it provides an accurate determination of the "local" luminosity function and the mean galaxy density. We find that, although a Schechter function (with α=-1.22, M^*^_bJ_=-19.61+5logh and φ^*^=0.020h^3^/Mpc^3^) is an acceptable representation of the luminosity function over the entire range of magnitudes (M_bJ_<=-12.4+5logh), our data suggest the presence of a steepening of the luminosity function for M_bJ_>=-17+5logh. Such a steepening at the faint end of the luminosity function, well fitted by a power law with slope β~-1.6, is almost completely due to galaxies with emission lines: in fact, dividing our galaxies into two samples, i.e. galaxies with and without emission lines, we find significant differences in their luminosity functions. In particular, galaxies with emission lines show a significantly steeper slope and a fainter M^*^. The amplitude and the α and M^*^ parameters of our luminosity function are in good agreement with those of the AUTOFIB redshift survey (Ellis et al. 1996). Vice-versa, our amplitude is significantly higher, by a factor ~1.6 at M~M^*^, than that found for both the Stromlo-APM (Loveday et al. 1992) and the Las Campanas (Lin et al. 1996) redshift surveys. Also the faint end slope of our luminosity function is significantly steeper than that found in these two surveys. The galaxy number density for M_bJ_<=-16+5logh is well determined (n{bar}=0.08+/-0.015h^3^/Mpc^3^). Its estimate for M_bJ_<=-12.4+5logh is more uncertain, ranging from n{bar}=0.28h^3^/Mpc^3^, in the case of a fit with a single Schechter function, to n{bar}=0.54h^3^/Mpc^3^, in the case of a fit with a Schechter function and a power law. The corresponding blue luminosity densities in these three cases are ρ_LUM_=(2.0, 2.2, 2.3)x10^8^hLsun_/Mpc^3^, respectively. Large over- and under- densities are clearly seen in our data. In particular, we find evidence for a "local" under-density (n~0.5n{bar} for D_comoving_<=140h^-1^Mpc) and a significant overdensity (n~2n{bar}) at z~0.1. When these radial density variations are taken into account, our derived luminosity function reproduces very well the observed counts for b_J_<=19.4, including the steeper than Euclidean slope for b_J_<=17.0.