The Redshift Completeness of Local Galaxy Catalogs

TL;DR

This paper assesses how complete local galaxy catalogs are by using supernovae as indicators, revealing that a significant fraction of nearby galaxies lack prior redshift data, especially at higher redshifts and lower luminosities.

Contribution

It introduces a method to evaluate galaxy catalog completeness using supernova host galaxies, providing new insights into the redshift coverage of local galaxy surveys.

Findings

RCF is approximately 78% for z<0.03.

Fainter and higher-redshift hosts are less likely to have known redshifts.

Some L* galaxies are missing redshift data despite their brightness.

Abstract

There is considerable interest in understanding the demographics of galaxies within the local universe (defined, for our purposes, as the volume within a radius of 200 Mpc or z<0.05). In this pilot paper, using supernovae (SNe) as signposts to galaxies, we investigate the redshift completeness of catalogs of nearby galaxies. In particular, type Ia SNe are bright and are good tracers of the bulk of the galaxy population, since they arise in both old and young stellar populations. Our input sample consists of SNe with redshift < 0.05, discovered by the flux-limited ASAS-SN survey. We define the redshift completeness fraction (RCF) as the number of SN host galaxies with known redshift prior to SN discovery, determined, in this case, via the NASA Extragalactic Database (NED), divided by the total number of newly discovered SNe. Using SNe Ia, we find RCF = 78 (+6, -7, 90% confidence interval) for z < 0.03. We examine the distribution of host galaxies with and without cataloged redshifts as a function of absolute magnitude and redshift, and, unsurprisingly, find that higher-z and fainter hosts are less likely to have a known redshift prior to the detection of the SN. However, surprisingly, some L* galaxies are also missing. We conclude with thoughts on the future improvement of RCF measurements that will be made possible from large SN samples resulting from ongoing and especially upcoming time-domain surveys.