Evolution of the Fraction of Clumpy Galaxies at 0.2<z<1.0 in the COSMOS
  field
  Using the Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys data in the
COSMOS field, we systematically searched clumpy galaxies at 0.2<z<1.0 and
investigated the fraction of clumpy galaxies and its evolution as a function of
stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), and specific SFR (SSFR). The fraction
of clumpy galaxies in star-forming galaxies with Mstar > 10^9.5 Msun decreases
with time from ~0.35 at 0.8<z<1.0 to ~0.05 at 0.2<z<0.4 irrespective of the
stellar mass, although the fraction tends to be slightly lower for massive
galaxies with Mstar > 10^10.5 Msun at each redshift. On the other hand, the
fraction of clumpy galaxies increases with increasing both SFR and SSFR in all
the redshift ranges we investigated. In particular, we found that the SSFR
dependences of the fractions are similar among galaxies with different stellar
masses, and the fraction at a given SSFR does not depend on the stellar mass in
each redshift bin. The evolution of the fraction of clumpy galaxies from z~0.9
to z~0.3 seems to be explained by such SSFR dependence of the fraction and the
evolution of SSFRs of star-forming galaxies. The fraction at a given SSFR also
appears to decrease with time, but this can be due to the effect of the
morphological K-correction. We suggest that these results are understood by the
gravitational fragmentation model for the formation of giant clumps in disk
galaxies, where the gas mass fraction is a crucial parameter.
