Semi-analytic modelling of galaxy evolution in the IR/submm range
B. Guiderdoni, E. Hivon, F. R. Bouchet, B. Maffei;
MNRAS, 1998, 295, 877
ABSTRACT:This paper proposes a new semi-analytic modelling of galaxy properties in the IR/submm wavelength range, which is explicitly set in a
cosmological framework.
We start from a description of the non-dissipative and
dissipative collapses of primordial perturbations, and add star formation,
stellar evolution and feedback, as well as the absorption of starlight by dust
and its re-emission in the IR and submm.
This type of approach has had some
success in reproducing the optical properties of galaxies.
We hereafter
propose a simple extension to the IR/submm range.
The growth of structures is
followed according to the standard cold dark matter model.
We assume that star
formation proceeds either in a `quiescent' mode, e.g., as in discs, or in a `burst'
mode with 10 times shorter time-scales.
In order to reproduce the current
data on the evolution of the comoving cosmic star formation rate and gas
densities, we need to introduce a mass fraction involved in the `burst' mode
strongly increasing with redshift, probably reflecting the increase of
interaction and merging activity.
We estimate the IR/submm luminosities of these
`mild starburst' and `luminous UV/IR galaxies', and we explore how much star
formation could be hidden in heavily extinguished, `ultraluminous IR galaxies'
by designing a family of evolutionary scenarios which are consistent
with the current status of the `cosmic constraints', as well as with the IRAS
60-μm luminosity function and faint counts, but with different high-z IR
luminosity densities.
However, these scenarios generate a cosmic infrared
background whose spectrum falls within the +/-1sigma range of the isotropic IR
component detected by Puget et al.
and revisited by Guiderdoni et al.
We give
predictions for the faint galaxy counts and redshift distributions at IR and submm
wavelengths.
The submm range is very sensitive to the details of the evolutionary
scenarios.
As a result, the ongoing and forthcoming observations with ISO and SCUBA
(and later with SIRTF, SOFIA, FIRST and PLANCK) will put strong constraints
on the evolution of galaxies at z~1 and beyond.
KEYWORDS: galaxies: evolution, galaxies: formation, cosmology: theory, infrared: galaxies
CODE: guiderdoni98