Deriving Physical Parameters

Determining the physical properties of distant galaxies is of fundamental importance for understanding the high-redshift universe. Firstly, measuring the galaxy properties as a function of redshift (or cosmic age) provides important information on the poorly understood nonlinear processes governing the evolution of galaxies. Secondly, mapping the space distribution of matter at different redshifts for a comparison with the predictions of the cosmic structure formation theory∈dex{formation of structure} requires methods to derive the mass of galaxies from the observational data. This cannot be achieved without understanding the basic properties of these objects. Finally, without some knowledge of the galaxy properties and their statistics, the detection probabilities of distant galaxies and the completeness of surveys cannot be estimated.