  Using HST/WFPC2 imaging in F606W (or F450W) and F814W filters, we obtained
the color maps in observed frame for 36 distant (0.4<z<1.2) luminous infrared
galaxies (LIRGs), with average star formation rates of ~100 M_sun/yr. Stars and
compact sources are taken as references to align images after correction of
geometric distortion. This leads to an alignment accuracy of 0.15 pixel, which
is a prerequisite for studying the detailed color properties of galaxies with
complex morphologies. A new method is developed to quantify the reliability of
each pixel in the color map without any bias against very red or blue color
regions.Based on analyses of two-dimensional structure and spatially resolved
color distribution, we carried out morphological classification for LIRGs.
About 36% of the LIRGs were classified as disk galaxies and 22% as irregulars.
Only 6 (17%) systems are obvious ongoing major mergers. An upper limit of 58%
was found for the fraction of mergers in LIRGs with all the possible
merging/interacting systems included. Strikingly, the fraction of compact
sources is as high as 25%, similar to that found in optically selected samples.
  From their K band luminosities, LIRGs are relatively massive systems, with an
average stellar mass of about 1.1x10^11 solar mass. They are related to the
formation of massive and large disks, from their morphologies and also from the
fact that they represent a significant fraction of distant disks selected by
their sizes. The compact LIRGs show blue cores, which could be associated with
the formation of the central region of these galaxies. We suggest that there
are many massive disks still forming a large fraction of their stellar mass
since z=1. For most of them, their central parts (bulge?) were formed prior to
the formation of their disks.
