Related papers: Identifying Mergers Using Quantitative Morphologie…
It is difficult to accurately identify galaxy mergers and it is an even larger challenge to classify them by their mass ratio or merger stage. In previous work we used a suite of simulated mergers to create a classification technique that…
We use the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey to measure the local Universe mass dependent merger fraction and merger rate using galaxy pairs and the CAS structural method, which identifies highly asymmetric merger candidate galaxies.…
Galaxy mergers play a critical role in galaxy evolution - altering the size, morphology, dynamics and composition of galaxies. So far, galaxy mergers have mostly been identified through visual inspection of their rest-frame optical and NIR…
Merging galaxies play a key role in galaxy evolution, and progress in our understanding of galaxy evolution is slowed by the difficulty of making accurate galaxy merger identifications. We use GADGET-3 hydrodynamical simulations of merging…
Aims. We aim to perform consistent comparisons between observations and simulations on the mass dependence of the galaxy major merger fraction at low redshift over an unprecedentedly wide range of stellar masses (10^9 to 10^12 solar…
Using a combination of numerical simulation and synthesized Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 2 (HST WFC2) images, we follow the detectability of morphological signatures of disk galaxy mergers at intermediate redshifts z=0.4 and…
Merging and interactions can radically transform galaxies. However, identifying these events based solely on structure is challenging as the status of observed mergers is not easily accessible. Fortunately, cosmological simulations are now…
[abridged] New near-infrared surveys, using the HST, offer an unprecedented opportunity to study rest-frame optical galaxy morphologies at z>1 and to calibrate automated morphological parameters that will play a key role in classifying…
Utilizing a high-resolution (114 pc/h) adaptive mesh-refinement cosmological galaxy formation simulation of the standard cold dark matter model with a large (2000-3000 galaxies with stellar mass greater than 1e9 Msun) statistical sample, we…
We present a study of galaxy mergers up to $z=10$ using the Planck Millennium cosmological dark matter simulation and the {\tt GALFORM} semi-analytical model of galaxy formation. Utilising the full ($800$ Mpc)$^3$ volume of the simulation,…
The mass assembly of galaxies can proceed through different physical processes. Here we report on the spectroscopic identification of close physical pairs of galaxies at redshifts 2 <z < 4 and discuss the impact of major mergers in shaping…
(Abridged) We measure the fraction of galaxies undergoing disk-disk major mergers (f_m) at intermediate redshifts (0.35 <= z < 0.85) by studying the asymmetry index A of galaxy images. Results are provided for B- and Ks-band absolute…
Numerical simulations predict that minor mergers are an important channel for the mass assembly of galaxies. However, minor mergers are relatively difficult to detect using imaging, especially at high redshift. While such events are much…
We investigate the total major (> 1:4 by stellar mass) and minor (> 1:100 by stellar mass) merger history of a population of 80 massive (M_* > 10^11 M_sol) galaxies at high redshifts (z = 1.7 - 3). We utilize extremely deep and high…
Gas-rich galaxy mergers are more easily identified by their disturbed morphologies than mergers with less gas. Because the typical gas fraction of galaxy mergers is expected to increase with redshift, the under-counting of low gas-fraction…
As we enter the era of large imaging surveys such as $\textit{Roman}$, Rubin, and $\textit{Euclid}$, a deeper understanding of potential biases and selection effects in optical astronomical catalogs created with the use of ML-based methods…
We employ a high-resolution LCDM N-body simulation to present merger rate predictions for dark matter halos and investigate how common merger-related observables for galaxies--such as close pair counts, starburst counts, and the…
Calculating the galaxy merger rate requires both a census of galaxies identified as merger candidates, and a cosmologically-averaged `observability' timescale T_obs(z) for identifying galaxy mergers. While many have counted galaxy mergers…
Testing theories of hierarchical structure formation requires estimating the distribution of galaxy morphologies and its change with redshift. One aspect of this investigation involves identifying galaxies with disturbed morphologies (e.g.,…
We measure the fraction of galaxy-galaxy mergers in two clusters at $z\sim2$ using imaging and grism observations from the {\it Hubble Space Telescope}. The two galaxy cluster candidates were originally identified as overdensities of…