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| Paper: |
Role of Galaxy Mergers in Cosmic Star Formation History |
| Volume: |
408, The Starburst−AGN Connection |
| Page: |
468 |
| Authors: |
Shi, Y.; Rieke, G.; Lotz, J.; Perez-Gonzalez, P.G. |
| Abstract: |
We present a morphology study of intermediate-redshift (0.2< z <1.2) luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) and general field galaxies in the GOODS fields using a revised asymmetry measurement method. By taking careful account of the importance of the underlying sky-background structures, our new method does not suffer from systematic bias and offers small uncertainties. By redshifting local LIRGs and low-redshift GOODS galaxies to different higher redshifts, we have found that the redshift dependence of the galaxy asymmetry due to surface-brightness dimming is a function of the asymmetry itself, with larger corrections for more asymmetric objects. By applying appropriate asymmetry corrections, we have found that intermediate-redshift LIRGs generally show highly asymmetric morphologies, with implied merger fractions ~ 50% up to z=1.2, although they are slightly more symmetric than local LIRGs. For general field galaxies, we find an almost constant merger fraction (20-30%). |
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