We have used public data from the Next Generation Virgo Survey ( NGVS ) to investigate the dwarf galaxy population of the Virgo cluster beyond what has previously been discovered .
We initially mask and smooth the data , and then use the object detection algorithm Sextractor to make our initial dwarf galaxy selection .
All candidates are then visually inspected to remove artefacts and duplicates .
We derive Sextractor parameters to best select low surface brightness galaxies using central surface brightness values of 22.5 \leq \mu ^ { g } _ { 0 } \leq 26.0 \mu g and exponential scale lengths of 3.0 \leq h \leq 10.0 arc sec to identify 443 cluster dwarf galaxies - 303 of which are new detections , with a surface density that decreases with radius from the cluster centre .
We also apply our selection algorithm to ’ background ’ , non-cluster , fields and find zero detections .
In combination , this leads us to believe that we have isolated a cluster dwarf galaxy population .
The range of objects we are able to detect is limited because smaller scale sized galaxies are confused with the background , while larger galaxies are split into numerous smaller objects by the detection algorithm .
Using data from previous surveys combined with our data , we find a faint end slope to the luminosity function of -1.35 \pm 0.03 , which does not significantly differ to what has previously been found for the Virgo cluster , but is a little steeper than the slope for field galaxies .
There is no evidence for a faint end slope steep enough to correspond with galaxy formation models , unless those models invoke either strong feedback processes or use warm dark matter .