Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): stellar mass functions by Hubble type

Abstract

We present an estimate of the galaxy stellar mass function and its division by morphological type in the local (0.025 < z < 0.06) Universe. Adopting robust morphological classifications as previously presented (Kelvin et al.) for a sample of 3727 galaxies taken from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey, we define a local volume and stellar mass limited sub-sample of 2711 galaxies to a lower stellar mass limit of {M}=10^{9.0} M_{{⊙}}. We confirm that the galaxy stellar mass function is well described by a double-Schechter function given by {M}^{*}=10^{10.64} M_{{⊙}}, α1 = -0.43, φ 1^{*}=4.18dex^{-1} Mpc^{-3}, α2 = -1.50 and φ 2^{*}=0.74dex^{-1} Mpc^{-3}. The constituent morphological-type stellar mass functions are well sampled above our lower stellar mass limit, excepting the faint little blue spheroid population of galaxies. We find approximately 71{}_{-4}^{+3} per cent of the stellar mass in the local Universe is found within spheroid-dominated galaxies; ellipticals and S0-Sas. The remaining 29{}_{-3}^{+4} per cent falls predominantly within late-type disc-dominated systems, Sab-Scds and Sd-Irrs. Adopting reasonable bulge-to-total ratios implies that approximately half the stellar mass today resides in spheroidal structures, and half in disc structures. Within this local sample, we find approximate stellar mass proportions for E : S0-Sa : Sab-Scd : Sd-Irr of 34 : 37 : 24 : 5.