Morphology of 70um COSMOS galaxies

In general, these galaxies are massive, with a stellar mass range of 10^10^-10^12^M_{sun}_, and luminous, with -25<M_K_<-20. The precise fraction of mergers in any given L_IR_ bin varies by redshift due to sources at z>1 being difficult to classify and subject to the effects of bandpass shifting; therefore, these numbers can only be considered lower limits.

At z<1, where the morphological classifications are most robust, major mergers clearly dominate the ULIRG population (~50%-80%) and are important for the LIRG population (~25%-40%). At z>1, the fraction of major mergers is lower, but is at least 30%-40% for ULIRGs. In a comparison of our visual classifications with several automated classification techniques we find general agreement; however, the fraction of identified mergers is underestimated due to automated classification methods being sensitive to only certain timescales of a major merger.