Gallego Maestro, JesúsGarcía Dabó, C. E.Zamorano Calvo, JaimeAragón Salamanca, A.Rego Fernández, Manuel2023-06-202023-06-202002-05-010004-637X10.1086/340830https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/57975© 2002 The American Astronomical Society. Valuable discussions with A. Alonso-Herrero, P. G. Pérez-González, and S. Pascual are gratefully acknowledged. We would also like to thank the anonymous referee for his/her useful suggestions that improved this Letter. This work was supported in part by the Spanish Plan Nacional de Astronomía y Astrofísica under grant AYA2000-1790.The measurement of the star formation rate density of the universe is of prime importance in understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies. The [O ii] λ3727 emission-line flux, easy to measure up to z ≈ 1.4 within deep redshift surveys in the optical and up to in the near-infrared, offers a reliable means of z ≈ 5.4 characterizing the star formation properties of high-z objects. In order to provide the high-z studies with a local reference, we have measured total [O ii] λ3727 fluxes for the well-analyzed local sample of star-forming galaxies from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid Survey. These data are used to derive the [O ii] λ3727 luminosity function for local star-forming galaxies. When compared with similar luminosity densities published for redshift up to, the overall evolution already observed in the star formation activity of the universe is confirmed.engjournal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1086/340830https://iopscience.iop.org/open access52Emission-line galaxiesStar-formation rateDe-Madrid listRedshift surveyMorphological analysisOptical photometryUCM galaxiesDensitySampleFieldAstrofísicaAstronomía (Física)