The use of gravitational lenses in the study of distant galaxy mergers

TL;DR

This paper discusses how gravitational lenses are used to detect distant galaxies and examines galaxy mergers at high redshifts, providing models for their evolution and implications for observed luminosity functions.

Contribution

It introduces solutions to the Smoluchowski kinetic equation for galaxy mergers and links merger-driven evolution to observed luminosity function changes.

Findings

Gravitational lenses enable detection of galaxies up to z=10.

Galaxy mergers influence the evolution of luminosity functions.

Explosive galaxy evolution can be modeled through the kinetic equation.

Abstract

Gravlenses are efficiently explored for detecting the most distant galaxies (up to z=10 redshifts). As an example of the role played by gravlenses we refer to the observation of the galaxy merger at z=3 (Borys, et al; Berciano Alba, et al). We derived solutions for the Smoluchowski kinetic equation for the mass function of galaxies, which describes mergers in differential approximation (minor mergers). It is shown that the evolution of the slope of luminosity function observed in the Ultra Deep Hubble Field (Bouwence et al) can be described as a result of explosive evolution driven by galaxy mergers.