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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2004

D. B. Sanders
Affiliation:
Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA email: sanders@ifa.hawaii.edu
C. M. Ishida
Affiliation:
Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory, 650 North A'ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA email: cat@subaru.naoj.org, guyon@subaru.naoj.org
J. M. Mazzarella
Affiliation:
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Mail Stop 100-22, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 91125, USA email: mazz@ipac.caltech.edu
S. Veilleux
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA email: veilleux@astro.umd.edu
J. A. Surace
Affiliation:
Spitzer Science Center, Mail Stop 314-6, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 91125, USA email: jason@ipac.caltech.edu
O. Guyon
Affiliation:
Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory, 650 North A'ohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720, USA email: cat@subaru.naoj.org, guyon@subaru.naoj.org
J. B. Jensen
Affiliation:
Gemini Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 87519, USA email: jjensen@gemini.edu
D.-C. Kim
Affiliation:
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (BK21), Soeul National University, Soeul, Korea email: dckim@astro.snu.ac.kr Present address: Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
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Abstract

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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 $(L_{\rm ir}/L_\odot) \simgt 11.6$, 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.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

Type
INVITED LECTURES
Copyright
© 2004 International Astronomical Union