Properties of very luminous galaxies

In the SSRS2 L > L* galaxies have an increasing, luminosity dependent correlation length. However, their skewness S-3 is comparable, implying that galaxy biasing is not linear, with no significant scale dependence in the range 0.3 less than or equal to xi(2) less than or equal to 10. Very Luminous Galaxies (M-B less than or equal to -21, L > 4L*) have r(0) similar to 16 +/- 2h(-1) Mpc, similar to the cluster correlation length. From their images and the information available in the literature we conclude that VLGs are not mainly early type galaxies or in clusters, and in many cases they appear to interact with nearby fainter galaxies. VLGs probably represent a special population of galaxies, and their study may contribute to our understanding of the halo-galaxy connection and galaxy evolution.