Galaxy Morphologies Revealed with Subaru HSC and Super-Resolution Techniques I: Major Merger Fractions of L_UV~3-15 L_UV* Dropout Galaxies at z~4-7

Abstract

We perform a super-resolution analysis of the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) images to estimate the major merger fractions of z~4-7 dropout galaxies at the bright end of galaxy UV luminosity functions (LFs). Our super-resolution technique improves the spatial resolution of the ground-based HSC images, from ~1" to <~0."1, which is comparable to that of the Hubble Space Telescope, allowing us to identify z~4-7 bright major mergers at a high completeness value of >~90%. We apply the super-resolution technique to 6412, 16, 94, and 13 very bright dropout galaxies at z~4, 5, 6, and 7, respectively, in a UV luminosity range of L_UV~3-15 L_UV* corresponding to -24<~M_UV<~-22. The major merger fractions are estimated to be f_merger~10-20% at z~4 and ~50-70% at z~5-7, which shows no f_merger difference compared to those of a control faint galaxy sample. Based on the f_merger estimates, we verify contributions of source blending effects and major mergers to the bright-end of double power-law (DPL) shape of z~4-7 galaxy UV LFs. While these two effects partly explain the DPL shape at L_UV~3-10 L_UV*, the DPL shape cannot be explained at the very bright end of L_UV>~10 L_UV*, even after the AGN contribution is subtracted. The results support scenarios in which other additional mechanisms such as insignificant mass quenching and low dust obscuration contribute to the DPL shape of galaxy UV LFs.

arXiv comment20 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in PASJ

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