The intriguing life of star-forming galaxies in the redshift range 1 < z
  < 2 using MASSIV
  MASSIV (Massiv Assembly Survey with SINFONI in VVDS) is an ESO large program
which consists of 84 star-forming galaxies, spanning in a wide range of stellar
masses, observed with the IFU SINFONI on the VLT, in the redshift range 1 < z <
2. To be representative of the normal galaxy population, the sample has been
selected from a well-defined, complete and representative parent sample. The
kinematics of individual galaxies reveals that 58% of the galaxies are slow
rotators, which means that a high fraction of these galaxies should probably be
formed through major merger processes which might have produced gaseous thick
or spheroidal structures supported by velocity dispersion rather than by
rotation. Computations on the major merger rate from close pairs indicate that
a typical star-forming galaxy underwent ~0.4 major mergers since ~9.5 Gyr,
showing that merging is a major process driving mass assembly into the red
sequence galaxies. These objects are also intriguing due to the fact that more
than one galaxy over four is more metal-rich in its outskirts than in its
center.
