Major mergers are not significant drivers of star formation or morphological transformation around the epoch of peak cosmic star formation

Lofthouse, E.K.; Kaviraj, S.; Conselice, Christopher J.; Mortlock, A.; Hartley, W.

Abstract

We investigate the contribution of major mergers (mass ratios > 1:5) to stellar mass growth and morphological transformations around the epoch of peak cosmic star formation (z ~ 2). We visually classify a complete sample of massive (M > 1010M_) galaxies at this epoch, drawn from the CANDELS survey, into late-type galaxies, major mergers, spheroids and disturbed spheroids which show morphological disturbances. Given recent simulation work, which indicates that recent (

Citation

Lofthouse, E., Kaviraj, S., Conselice, C. J., Mortlock, A., & Hartley, W. (2017). Major mergers are not significant drivers of star formation or morphological transformation around the epoch of peak cosmic star formation. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 465(3), https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2895

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 7, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Nov 10, 2016
• Publication Date: Mar 15, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jun 15, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 15, 2017
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Print ISSN: 0035-8711
• Electronic ISSN: 0035-8711
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 465
• Issue: 3
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2895
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/850516
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2895