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Published 2004 | Published
Book Section - Chapter Open

The infrared universe: The cosmic evolution of superstarbursts and massive black holes

Abstract

Our view of galaxy evolution has been dramatically enhanced by recent deep field surveys at far-infrared and submillimeter wavelengths. Current evidence suggests that the number density of the most luminous far-infrared sources evolves strongly with redshift, and that the luminosity density in the far-infrared/submillimeter may exceed that in the optical/ultraviolet by factors of 3 − 10 at redshifts z > 1. If true, then as much as 80-90% of the "activity" in galaxies at z > 1 may be hidden by dust. Surveys of complete samples of luminous infrared galaxies in the local Universe show that the majority, if not all objects with log (L_(ir)/L_☉) ≳ 11.6, appear to be major mergers of molecular gas-rich disks accompanied by dust-enshrouded nuclear starbursts and powerful AGN. If the majority of the deep-field sources are simply more distant analogs of local luminous infrared galaxies, then we may be witnessing at z ~ 1 − 3 the primary epoch in the formation of spheroids and massive black holes. This major event in galaxy evolution is largely missed by current deep optical/ultraviolet surveys.

Additional Information

© 2004 International Astronomical Union. CMI and OG acknowledge support from the Subaru Telescope operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. JMM was supported by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with NASA. JAS was supported by the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology. Spitzer is carried out at JPL, under contract with NASA. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with NASA. JJ was supported by the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., on behalf of the international Gemini partnership of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

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