The VVDS-Deep Survey: the growth of bright galaxies by minor mergers since z = 1

In this work we measure the merger fraction, f_m, of L_B >= L^*_B galaxies in the VVDS-Deep spectroscopic Survey. We define kinematical close pairs as those galaxies with a separation in the sky plane 5h^{-1} kpc < r_p = 1/4 and 1/10 = L^*_B galaxies has grown ˜ 25% since z ˜ 1 because of minor and major mergers. The relative contribution of the mass growth by merging is ˜ 25% due to minor mergers and ˜ 75% due to major ones. The relative effect of merging is more important for red galaxies, with those subject to 0.6 minor and 0.7 major mergers since z ˜ 1, which leads to a mass growth of ˜ 40% and a size increase by a factor of 2. These results show that minor merging is a significant but not dominant mechanism driving the mass growth of galaxies in the last ˜ 8 Gyr.