Hubble Space TelescopeImaging of the CFRS and LDSS Redshift Surveys. II. Structural Parameters and the Evolution of Disk Galaxies toz∼ 1

Several aspects of the evolution of star-forming galaxies are studied using measures of the 2-dimensional surface brightness profiles of a sample of 341 faint objects selected from the CFRS and LDSS redshift surveys that have been observed with the Hubble Space Telescope. The size function of disk scale lengths in disk-dominated galaxies (i.e. bulge to total ratios, B/T ≤ 0.5) is found to stay roughly constant to z ~ 1, at least for those larger disks with exponential scale lengths α-1 3.2 h-1 50 kpc, where the sample is most complete and where the disk and bulge decompositions are most reliable. This result, which is strengthened by inclusion of the local de Jong et al (1996) size function, suggests that the scale lengths of typical disks can not have grown substantially with cosmic epoch since z ~ 1, unless a corresponding number of large disks have been destroyed through merging. In addition to a roughly constant number density, the galaxies with large disks, α-1 ≥ 4 h-1 50 kpc, have, as a set, properties consistent with the idea that they are similar galaxies observed at different cosmic epochs. However, on average, they show higher B-band disk surface brightnesses, bluer overall (U-V) colors, higher OII 3727