Luminosity effects in projected fractals

Abstract

The use of two-dimensional catalogues in unraveling the largescale distribution of extra-galactic objects can reveal more information than has been supposed if the objects have approximate scaling properties such as observations suggest. After a brief general discussion of this issue, we turn to specific examples of projected fractals for the case where the objects studied have a Schechter luminosity function. We analyze the effects of projection on the characteristics of such a fractal distribution. Our results indicate that two-dimensional catalogues of sources could be of value in detecting the effects of luminosity functions as well as of large-scale structure.