Galaxy Formation and Evolution PG course - Home work  [deadline still to be fixed; Marking out of /10]

A survey X provides you with a galaxy catalogue, accessible from 
http://www.astro.dur.ac.uk/~iprn/icc/teaching/PG_GALFORM_2013/survey_x.txt.gz . This catalogue 
lists for each galaxy ra [deg.] and dec [deg.], the helio centric corrected redshift and the 
extinction corrected petrosian r_{AB} apparent magnitude.

[1] 1. Provide a plot of the differential number counts of galaxies as a function of apparent 
       magnitude and a plot of the redshift distribution for the sample.

[2] 2. Measure and plot of the galaxy luminosity function (LF) of the sample (for an appropriate 
       choice of redshift range) in terms of r-band absolute magnitude, assuming a global 
       k-correction of the form k(z) = 2.5 log_{10}(1+z) .

[2] 3. Estimate the best fit Schechter function to the LF and plot it on the measured galaxy LF. 
       Provide the values of the parameters \alpha, \phi^* and M* (the "faint en slope", the 
       normalisation and the characteristic absolute magnitude of the break in the LF 
       respectively). Provide a description of how you would proceed to obtain errors on these
       parameters.

[3] 4. A short discussion of the assumptions made in your analysis, potential sources of error, 
       a description of any additional selection criteria you applied to the sample and a 
       comparison of your values to those in the literature.

[2] 5. Finally a deeper survey, D-X, within a sub-area of the X survey provides you with an 
       other galaxy catalogue, accessible from: 
       http://www.astro.dur.ac.uk/~iprn/icc/teaching/PG_GALFORM_2013/survey_x_deep.txt.gz 
       This catalogue lists also for each galaxy ra, dec, redshift and apparent magnitude.

       How should you combine the two datasets and what do you need to account for when 
       estimating the galaxy luminosity function from the combined sample? It might help to look 
       at the data files to have an appropriate understanding of both samples before starting.