The GALEX VIMOS-VLT Deep Survey measurement of the evolution of the 1500 luminosity function

We present the first measurement of the galaxy luminosity function (LF) at 1500 Angstrom in the range 0.2 less than or equal to z less than or equal to 1.2 based on Galaxy Evolution Explorer VIMOS-VLT Deep Survey observations (similar to1000 spectroscopic redshifts for galaxies with NUV less than or equal to 24.5) and at higher z using existing data sets. Our main results are summarized as follows: (1) Luminosity evolution is observed with DeltaM(*) similar to -2.0 mag between z = 0 and z = 1 and DeltaM(*) similar to -1.0 mag between z = 1 and z = 3. This confirms that the star formation activity was significantly higher in the past. (2) The LF slopes vary in the range -1.2 greater than or equal to alpha greater than or equal to -1.65, with a marginally significant hint of increase at higher z. (3) We split the sample in three rest-frame (B-I) intervals, providing an approximate spectral type classification: Sb - Sd, Sd - Irr, and unobscured starbursts. We find that the bluest class evolves less strongly in luminosity than the two other classes. On the other hand, their number density increases sharply with z (similar to 15% in the local universe to similar to55% at z similar to1), while that of the reddest classes decreases.