RESEARCH NOTE - LUMINOSITY FUNCTION OF THE STARS IN THE GALACTIC BULGE - DETERMINATION FROM A MAGNITUDE-LIMITED SAMPLE

We construct the observed Luminosity Function (LF) of a sample of star s in the low obscuration region known as Baade's Window (BW). This LF is shifted by similar to 1.5 mag towards brighter M(bol) with respect to that published by Frogel & Whitford (1987). This has been interpret ed as produced by observations of slightly different stellar populatio ns in the same area due to the way the stars have been selected, and t o a difference in depth between both samples. The observed LF may be s eparated into two Gaussian components, they are respectively associate d with the bulge and disc contributions. The component which we claim represents the disc contribution in BW may be reproduced reasonably we ll by projection and integration of the M giants' LF in the solar neig hbourhood. This fact lends support to our associating the wide compone nt of the observed LF with a disc-like stellar population. Values for the characteristic radii for the bulge (similar to 0.9 kpc) and for th e disc (similar to 2.0 kpc) are derived.