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Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the CFRS and LDSS redshift surveys - IV. Influence of mergers in the evolution of faint field galaxies from z~1

HST images of a sample of 285 galaxies with measured z from the CFRS and Autofib-LDSS redshift surveys are analysed to derive the evolution of the merger fraction out to z~1. We have performed visual and machine-based merger identifications, as well as counts of bright pairs of galaxies with magnitude differences less than 1.5 mag. We find that the pair fraction increases with z, with up to ~20% of the galaxies being in physical pairs at z~0.75-1. We derive a merger fraction varying with z as (1+z)^{3.2 +/- 0.6}, after correction for line-of-sight contamination, in excellent agreement with the merger fraction derived from the visual classification of mergers for which m = 3.4 +/- 0.6. After correcting for seeing effects on the ground-based selection of survey galaxies, we conclude that the pair fraction evolves as (1+z)^{2.7 +/- 0.6}. This implies that an average L* galaxy will have undergone 0.8 to 1.8 merger events from z=1 to 0, with 0.5 to 1.2 merger events occuring in a 2 Gyr time span at z~0.9. This result is consistent with predictions from semi-analytical models of galaxy formation. From the simple co-addition of the observed luminosities of the galaxies in pairs, physical mergers are computed to lead to a brightening of 0.5 mag for each pair on average, and a boost in star formation rate of a factor of 2, as derived from the average [O II] equivalent widths. Mergers of galaxies are therefore contributing significantly to the evolution of both the luminosity function and luminosity density of the Universe out to z~1.