The faint end of the luminosity function in clusters

Abstract

I review recent measurements of the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function in galaxy clusters. Evidence is presented that the luminosity function of galaxies in the central parts of clusters is remarkably constant between clusters and that this luminosity function is steep at bright and faint magnitudes and shallow in-between. The curvature is highly significant -- neither a power-law nor a Schechter function is consistent with the data. At no magnitude does alpha=-1 fit the data well. The faintest galaxies in all clusters that have been studied are dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

10 pages, 3 figs, latex, review paper to appear in the proceedings of ``Dwarf Galaxies and Cosmology'' ed. T.X.Thuan et al. (Editions Frontieres, Gif-sur-Yvette)