Star formation rate distribution for m₁, m₃, and m₄. Solid and dot-dashed coloured lines give the total and the merger-induced (Eq. (6)) star formation rate distribution, respectively. The merger-induced distributions are built with galaxies that i) have merged during the last time-step and ii) have , where and σ_SFR are, respectively, the mean and standard deviation of star formation rate distribution of steady-state galaxies with stellar mass and dark matter halo mass value close (in the same half dex) to the merger-driven starburst galaxy taken into account. Models are compared with a set of observational data coming from Rodighiero et al. (2010; circles), Magnelli et al. (2011; squares) and Reddy et al. (2008; triangles) at low redshift (z ≤ 3), and from Smit et al. (2012; diamonds) at high redshift (z = 4−6). For information we add the free-fall rate (black dash-dot line) and cooling rate (black dot line) distribution function for model m₄.