A CATALOG OF FAINT INTERACTING GALAXIES IN PAIRS AND GROUPS

We have carried out an extensive survey of faint galaxies in order to examine the rise in the merger rate with redshift and to study the sta tistical relations between close interacting galaxies and the field ga laxy population. In this paper, we present the catalog of faint pairs and groups of galaxies of 46 equatorial fields taken with the Cerro To lolo Inter-American Observatory 4 m prime focus. The data set contains 73,988 galaxies, covering a total area of 2.23 deg(2). We have found 1751 isolated pairs and 30 groups of galaxies within 19 < m(R) < 22 an d 2'' < theta < 6'' in this area. Our results clearly show an increase in pairs and groups of galaxies in comparison with a randomly generat ed catalog.