Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 1988. 26: 509-560 Copyright © 1988 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved

Reprinted with kind permission from Annual Reviews, 4139 El Camino Way, Palo Alto, California, USA

For a PDF version of the article, click here.
For a Postscript version of the article, click here.

Table of Contents

• THE RELEVANCE OF THE OPTICAL LUMINOSITY FUNCTION
• The General vs. Specific Functions
• Some Examples Where (M) is Needed
• History of Determining the General Luminosity Function
• DEFINITION
• Luminosity Function and Density Function
• Magnitudes
• Selection of Galaxies
• METHODS TO DETERMINE THE LUMINOSITY FUNCTION
• Cluster Galaxies
• Field Galaxies
• THE LUMINOSITY FUNCTION OVER ALL HUBBLE TYPES
• Cluster Galaxies
• Field Galaxies
• The Question of Universality
• THE LUMINOSITY FUNCTION FOR DIFFERENT HUBBLE TYPES
• E and S0 Galaxies
• Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies
• Spiral and Irregular Galaxies
• Summary
• THE LUMINOSITY FUNCTION FOR DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS
• The Morphology-Density Relation
• Toward a Luminosity Function-Density Relation
• A Case for Simplicity
• PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS
• Observational
• Theoretical
• REFERENCES