@article {28099, title = {The Luminosity Function of Galaxies in SDSS Commissioning Data}, journal = {The Astronomical Journal}, volume = {121}, year = {2001}, note = {n/a}, month = {May 1, 2001}, pages = {2358-2380}, abstract = {In the course of its commissioning observations, the Sloan Digital SkySurvey (SDSS) has produced one of the largest redshift samples ofgalaxies selected from CCD images. Using 11,275 galaxies complete tor*=17.6 over 140 deg2, we compute the luminosityfunction of galaxies in the r* band over a range-23r*\<-16 (for h=1). The result iswell-described by a Schechter function with parametersφ*=(1.46+/-0.12){\texttimes}10-2 h3Mpc-3, M*=-20.83+/-0.03, and α=-1.20+/-0.03.The implied luminosity density in r* isj~(2.6+/-0.3){\texttimes}108h Lsolar Mpc-3.We find that the surface brightness selection threshold has a negligibleimpact for Mr*\<-18. Using subsets of the data,we measure the luminosity function in the u*, g*,i*, and z* bands as well; the slope at lowluminosities ranges from α=-1.35 to α=-1.2. We measure thebivariate distribution of r* luminosity with half-lightsurface brightness, intrinsic g*-r* color, andmorphology. In agreement with previous studies, we find that highsurface brightness, red, highly concentrated galaxies are on averagemore luminous than low surface brightness, blue, less concentratedgalaxies. An important feature of the SDSS luminosity function is theuse of Petrosian magnitudes, which measure a constant fraction of agalaxy{\textquoteright}s total light regardless of the amplitude of its surfacebrightness profile. If we synthesize results for RGKC band orbj band using these Petrosian magnitudes, we obtainluminosity densities 2 times that found by the Las Campanas RedshiftSurvey in RGKC and 1.4 times that found by the Two DegreeField Galaxy Redshift Survey in bj. However, we are able toreproduce the luminosity functions obtained by these surveys if we alsomimic their isophotal limits for defining galaxy magnitudes, which areshallower and more redshift dependent than the Petrosian magnitudes usedby the SDSS. Based on observations obtained with the Sloan Digital SkySurvey. }, url = {http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001AJ....121.2358B}, author = {Blanton, Michael R. and Dalcanton, Julianne and Eisenstein, Daniel and Loveday, Jon and Strauss, Michael A. and SubbaRao, Mark and Weinberg, David H. and Anderson, John E., Jr. and Annis, James and Bahcall, Neta A. and Bernardi, Mariangela and Brinkmann, J. and Brunner, Robert J. and Burles, Scott and Carey, Larry and Castander, Francisco J. and Connolly, Andrew J. and Csabai, Istv{\'a}n and Doi, Mamoru and Finkbeiner, Douglas and Friedman, Scott and Frieman, Joshua A. and Fukugita, Masataka and Gunn, James E. and Hennessy, G. S. and Hindsley, Robert B. and Hogg, David W. and Ichikawa, Takashi and Ivezi{\'c}, {\v Z}eljko and Kent, Stephen and Knapp, G. R. and Lamb, D. Q. and Leger, R. French and Long, Daniel C. and Lupton, Robert H. and McKay, Timothy A. and Meiksin, Avery and Merelli, Aronne and Munn, Jeffrey A. and Narayanan, Vijay and Newcomb, Matt and Nichol, R. C. and Okamura, Sadanori and Owen, Russell and Pier, Jeffrey R. and Pope, Adrian and Postman, Marc and Quinn, Thomas and Rockosi, Constance M. and Schlegel, David J. and Schneider, Donald P. and Shimasaku, Kazuhiro and Siegmund, Walter A. and Smee, Stephen and Snir, Yehuda and Stoughton, Chris and Stubbs, Christopher and Szalay, Alexander S. and Szokoly, Gyula P. and Thakar, Aniruddha R. and Tremonti, Christy and Tucker, Douglas L. and Uomoto, Alan and Vanden Berk, Dan and Vogeley, Michael S. and Waddell, Patrick and Yanny, Brian and Yasuda, Naoki and York, Donald G.} }