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Published 1996 | public
Book Section - Chapter

The Quest for Protogalaxies

Abstract

The current state and the future prospects of searches for protogalaxies (PGs) are reviewed. Many high-redshift objects are now known, mostly associated in some way with AGN, and at least some of them may be young galaxies. Quasars at z > 4 and high-z quasar pairs may mark galaxy formation sites. Deep field surveys for Lyα luminous galaxies powered by star formation alone have failed so far to reveal a large population of such objects, and the observed limits are in conflict with simple model predictions by three orders of magnitude. Some extinction by dust can account for this. However, strong limits from COBE place severe constraints on models of completely obscured PGs. New searches in the near IR are now beginning to probe the relevant line flux and number density regime, and first interesting PG candidates are being discovered. Searches from mid-IR to mm wavelengths would complement these efforts.

Additional Information

© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. I wish to thank my collaborators, and in particular D. Thompson, M. Pahre, and J. Kennefick, and to the staff of Palomar and W. M. Keck observatories for their expert help. This work was supported in part by the NSF PYI award AST-9157412, and the Bressler Foundation.

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
January 14, 2024