NIR/Optical Selected Local Mergers --- Spatial Density and sSFR   Enhancement
  Mergers play important roles in triggering the most active objects in the universe, including (U)LIRGs and QSOs. However, whether they are also important for the total stellar mass build-up in galaxies in general is unclear and controversial. The answer to that question depends on the merger rate and the average strength of merger induced star formation. In this talk, I will review studies on spatial density and sSFR enhancement of local mergers found in NIR/optical selected pair samples. In line with the current literature on galaxy formation/evolution, special attention will be paid to the dependence of the local merger rate and of the sSFR enhancement on four fundamental observables: (1) stellar mass, (2) mass ratio, (3) separation, and (4) environment. 
C. Kevin Xu
astro-ph.CO