Internal Kinematics of Blue CFRS Galaxies at z ~ 0.6

Abstract

We present the results of a study of the internal kinematics of luminous starforming galaxies in the 0 < z < 0.8 range, with the aim of investigating the nature of the blue galaxies which cause the largest changes in the luminosity function at z > 0.5. New kinematic data are analysed for a sample of 24 galaxies from the Canada-France Redshift Survey, most of them with rest-frame (U-V)_{AB}< 1.14. Unlike most previous studies, target galaxies were selected regardless of size and morphology, from a well-studied magnitude-limited survey (the CFRS). Our sample is therefore representative of the most rapidly changing 1/3 of the galaxy population in the 0 < z < 0.8 range. The 15 galaxies at z > 0.45 have sizes (from HST images) and velocity widths sigma_{v} (from emission lines) similar to those of typical local Irregulars. This is consistent with their morphologies and rest-frame colors; however, these galaxies are as bright as the brightest local Irregulars, and roughly 2 magnitudes brighter than typical Irregulars known nearby. We conclude that the increase in the number density of luminous blue galaxies at z > 0.5 is mainly due to a population of small and unusually-bright late-type galaxies.