Exploring the Morphological Diversities among the Lyman-Break Galaxies Using GOODS

Swara Ravindranath

The deep, multi-wavelength images from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) have yielded large samples of high redshift star-forming galaxies at z>2.5, through the use of the Lyman-break technique. We have used the high resolution HST/ACS images to quantify the morphological diversity among LBGs, and to examine the evolution of the rest-frame UV morphology from LBGs at z>2.5 to the actively star-forming galaxies at z=1.2. We perform a parameteric analysis of the surface brightness distribution to derive the profile shape, and the ellipticity which we use to infer the galaxy morphology. I will present the results from our analysis which seems to suggest that the LBGs have structural properties that are widely different from the spheroids and disks that are observed among the galaxy population at low redshifts. The implications of the observed LBGs morphologies on the galaxy assembly at early epochs will be discussed.