SIMBAD references

A Spitzer Space Telescope survey in the NOAO Deep Wide Field in Boötes provides a complete, 8 µm-selected sample of galaxies to a limiting (Vega) magnitude of 13.5. In the 6.88 deg² field sampled, 79% of the 4867 galaxies have spectroscopic redshifts, allowing an accurate determination of the local (z<0.3) galaxy luminosity function. Stellar and dust emission can be separated on the basis of observed galaxy colors. Dust emission (mostly PAH) accounts for 80% of the 8 µm luminosity, stellar photospheres account for 19%, and AGN emission accounts for roughly 1%. A subsample of the 8 µm-selected galaxies have blue, early-type colors, but even most of these have significant PAH emission. The luminosity functions for the total 8 µm luminosity and for the dust emission alone are both well fit by Schechter functions. For the 8 µm luminosity function, the characteristic luminosity is νL^*_ν(8.0 µm)=1.8x10¹⁰ L_☉, while for the dust emission alone it is 1.6x10¹⁰ L_☉. The average 8 µm luminosity density at z<0.3 is 3.1x10⁷ L_☉/Mpc3, and the average luminosity density from dust alone is 2.5x10⁷ L_☉/Mpc3. This luminosity arises predominantly from galaxies with 8 µm luminosities (νL_ν) between 2x10⁹ and 2x10¹⁰ L_☉, i.e., normal galaxies, not luminous or ultraluminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs/ULIRGs).