Abstract
We study the relation between the star formation intensity of galaxies and the extinction by dust of their emitted light. We employ a detailed statistical analysis of Hubble Deep Field North data to show a clear positive correlation between the extinction and star formation intensity at all epochs from redshift 0.4 to 6.5. The extinction evidently increases with time for a given star formation intensity, consistent with the expected increase in the metallicity with time. Our observational results are well fitted at all epochs by a double-power-law model with a fixed shape that simply shifts with redshift. The correlation between the extinction and the star formation intensity can be interpreted by combining two other trends: the correlation between the star formation rate and the gas content of galaxies, and the evolution of the dust-to-gas ratio in galaxies. If we assume that Kennicutt's observed relation for the former is valid at each redshift, then our findings imply an interesting variation in the dust-to-gas ratio in galaxies within each epoch and with time, and suggest new ways to investigate the cosmic evolution of this quantity.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | L47-L51 |
| Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters |
| Volume | 368 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 2006 |
Keywords
- Cosmology: observations
- Dust, extinction
- Galaxies: evolution
- ISM: evolution
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Space and Planetary Science