Evidence for merging or disruption of red galaxies from the evolution of their clustering

The formation and evolution of massive red galaxies form a crucial test of theories of galaxy formation based on hierarchical assembly. In this Letter we use observations of the clustering of luminous red galaxies from the Bootes field and N-body simulations to argue that about (1)/(3) of the most luminous satellite galaxies appear to 1 3 undergo merging or disruption within massive halos between and z similar or equal to 0.9 and 0.5.