Far-Infrared and Submillimetre Lighthouses

Abstract

Evidence is discussed which strongly suggests that the sources discovered in deep submillimetre (submm) surveys form a major population of distant dusty galaxies. These sources can account for the background radiation observed in these wavebands. Three sources are identified with certainty with distant galaxies with measured redshifts. They are all hyperluminous, and are likely to be massive galaxies in which a significant fraction of their stellar populations has already been formed. It is a challenge to account for such a large population of high-redshift luminous galaxies. The relation of these observations to the problem of accounting for the evolution of the cosmic star formation rate is discussed.

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