Modelling the number counts of early-type galaxies by pure luminosity evolution

Ping He, Yuan-Zhong Zhang

Published 1998-02-10, updated 1998-02-17Version 2

In this paper, we explore the plausible luminosity evolution of early-type galaxies in different cosmological models by constructing a set of pure luminosity evolution (PLE) models via the choices of the star formation rate (SFR) parameters and formation redshift $z_f$ of galaxies, with the observational constraints derived from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) morphological number counts for elliptical and S0 galaxies of the Medium Deep Survey (MDS) and the Hubble Deep Field (HDF). We find that the number counts of early-type galaxies can be explained by the pure luminosity evolution models, without invoking exotic scenarios such as merging or introducing an additional population. But the evolution should be nearly passive, with a high $z_f$ assumed. The conclusion is valid in all of the three cosmological models we adopted in this paper. We also present the redshift distributions for three bins of observed magnitudes in F814w pass-band, to show at which redshift are the objects that dominate the counts at a given magnitude. The predictions of the redshift distribution of $22.5<b_j<24.0$ are also presented for comparison with future data.