MAGIICAT. I. MgII Absorber-Galaxy Catalog

The mean color of MAGIICAT galaxies is consistent with an Sbc galaxy for all redshifts. We also present B- and K-band luminosity functions for different W_r_(2796) and redshift subsamples: "weak absorbing" [W_r_(2796)<0.3{AA}], "strong absorbing" [W_r_(2796)>=0.3{AA}], low redshift (z{<}<z>), and high redshift (z{>=}<z>), where <z> = 0.359 is the median galaxy redshift. Rest-frame color B-K correlates with M_K_ at the 8{sigma} level for the whole sample but is driven by the strong absorbing, high-redshift subsample (6{sigma}).

Using M_K_ as a proxy for stellar mass and examining the luminosity functions, we infer that in lower stellar mass galaxies, MgII absorption is preferentially detected in blue galaxies and the absorption is more likely to be weak.