Author(s)

Lorenzo Zaninetti

Physics Department, via P. Giuria 1, Turin, Italy.

The luminosity function (LF) for stars is here fitted by a Schechter function and by a Gamma probability density function. The dependence of the number of stars on the distance, both in the low and high luminosity regions, requires the inclusion of a lower and upper boundary in the Schechter and Gamma LFs. Three astrophysical applications for stars are provided: deduction of the parameters at low distances, behavior of the average absolute magnitude with distance, and the location of the photometric maximum as a function of the selected flux. The use of the truncated LFs allows modeling the Malmquist bias.

Fundamental Parameters Stars, Luminosity Function, Mass Function

Zaninetti, L. (2017) Standard and Truncated Luminosity Functions for Stars in the Gaia Era. International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 7, 255-272. doi: 10.4236/ijaa.2017.74022.