Abstract: (arXiv)
A combination of ground-based (NTT and VLT) and HST (HDF-N and HDF-S) public imaging surveys have been used to collect a sample of 1712 I-selected and 319 K21K\leq 21 galaxies. Photometric redshifts have been obtained for all these galaxies. The results have been compared with the prediction of an analytic rendition of the current CDM hierarchical models for galaxy formation. We focus in particular on two observed quantities: the galaxy redshift distribution at K<21 and the evolution of the UV luminosity density. The derived photometric redshift distribution is in agreement with the hierarchical CDM prediction, with a fraction of only 5% of galaxies detected at z>2. This result strongly supports hierarchical scenarios where present-day massive galaxies are the result of merging processes. The observed UV luminosity density in the I-selected sample is confined within a factor of 4 over the whole range 03. CDM models in Λ\Lambda-dominated universe are in better agreement at 3