Observationally derived change in the star formation rate as mergers progress

¹ National Centre for Nuclear Research, Pasteura 7, 02-093 Warszawa, Poland
² SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Landleven 12, 9747 AD Groningen, The Netherlands
³ Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Postbus 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
⁴ Instituto de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apdo. Postal 72-3, 58089 Morelia, Mexico
⁵ Tartu Observatory, University of Tartu, Observatooriumi 1, Tõravere 61602, Estonia

^★ Corresponding author: william.pearson@ncbj.gov.pl

Received: 29 November 2024
Accepted: 23 October 2025

Abstract

Context. Galaxy mergers can change the rate at which stars are formed. We can trace when these changes occur in simulations of galaxy mergers. However, for observed galaxies we do not know how the star formation rate (SFR) evolves along the merger sequence as it is difficult to probe the time before or after coalescence.

Aims. We aim to derive how SFR changes in observed mergers throughout the merger sequence, from a statistical perspective.

Methods. Merger times were estimated for observed galaxy mergers in the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS) using a convolutional neural network (CNN). The CNN was trained on mock KiDS images created using IllustrisTNG data. The SFRs were derived from spectral energy density fitting to KiDS and VIKINGs data. To determine the change in SFR for the merging galaxies, each merging galaxy was matched and compared to ten comparable non-merging galaxies; matching each galaxy in redshift, stellar mass, and local density.

Results. Mergers see an increase in the SFR for galaxies from 300 Myr before the merger until coalescence, continuing until at least 200 Myr after the merger event. After this, there is a possibility that SFR activity in the mergers begins to decrease, but we need more data to better constrain our merger times and SFRs to confirm this. We find that more galaxies with higher stellar mass (M_★) have greater SFR enhancement as they merge compared to lower-M_★ galaxies. There is no clear trend of changing SFR enhancement as local density changes, but the least dense environments have the least SFR enhancement. The increasing SFR enhancement is likely due to the closer proximity of galaxies and the presence of more close passes as the time before the merger approaches 0 Myr, with the SFR slowing 200 Myr after the merger event.