Structures of Local Galaxies Compared to High Redshift Star-forming
  Galaxies
  The rest-frame far-ultraviolet (FUV) morphologies of 8 nearby interacting and
starburst galaxies (Arp 269, M 82, Mrk 8, NGC 520, NGC 1068, NGC 3079, NGC
3310, NGC 7673) are compared with 54 galaxies at z ~ 1.5 and 46 galaxies at z ~
4 observed in the GOODS-ACS field. The nearby sample is artificially redshifted
to z ~ 1.5 and 4. We compare the simulated galaxy morphologies to real z ~ 1.5
and 4 UV-bright galaxy morphologies. We calculate the Gini coefficient (G), the
second-order moment of the brightest 20% of the galaxy's flux (M_20), and the
Sersic index (n). We explore the use of nonparametric methods with 2D profile
fitting and find the combination of M_20 with n an efficient method to classify
galaxies as having merger, exponential disk, or bulge-like morphologies. When
classified according to G and M_20, 20/30% of real/simulated galaxies at z ~
1.5 and 37/12% at z ~ 4 have bulge-like morphologies. The rest have merger-like
or intermediate distributions. Alternatively, when classified according to the
Sersic index, 70% of the z ~ 1.5 and z ~ 4 real galaxies are exponential disks
or bulge-like with n > 0.8, and ~30% of the real galaxies are classified as
mergers. The artificially redshifted galaxies have n values with ~35% bulge or
exponential at z ~ 1.5 and 4. Therefore, ~20-30% of Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs)
have structures similar to local starburst mergers, and may be driven by
similar processes. We assume merger-like or clumpy star-forming galaxies in the
GOODS field have morphological structure with values n < 0.8 and M_20 > -1.7.
We conclude that Mrk 8, NGC 3079, and NGC 7673 have structures similar to those
of merger-like and clumpy star-forming galaxies observed at z ~ 1.5 and 4.
