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

Abstract

Aims: An unbiased and detailed characterization of the galaxy luminosity function (LF) is a basic requirement in many astrophysical issues: it is of particular interest in assessing the role of the environment in the evolution of the LF of different galaxy types. Methods: We studied the evolution in the B band LF to redshift z ̃ 1 in the zCOSMOS 10k sample, for which both accurate galaxy classifications (spectrophotometric and morphological) and a detailed description of the local density field are available. Results: The global B band LF exhibits a brightening of ̃ 0.07 mag in M * from z ̃ 0.2 to z ̃ 0.9. At low redshifts (z > 0.35), spectrophotometric late types dominate at faint magnitudes (M BAB