The cosmic evolution of the galaxy luminosity density

Abstract

We reconstruct the history of the cosmic star formation in the universe by means of detailed chemical evolution models for galaxies of different morphological types. We consider a picture of coeval, non-interacting evolving galaxies where ellipticals experience intense and rapid starbursts within the first Gyr after their formation, and spirals and irregulars continue to form stars at lower rates up to the present time. Such models allow one to follow in detail the evolution of the metallicity of the gas out of which the stars are formed. We normalize the galaxy population to the B band luminosity function observed in the local Universe and study the redshift evolution of the luminosity densities in the B, U, I and K bands calculating galaxy colors and evolutionary corrections by means of a detailed synthetic stellar population model. Our predictions indicate that the decline of the galaxy luminosity density between redshift 1 and 0 observed in the U, B and I bands is caused mainly by star-forming spiral galaxies which slowly exhaust their gas reservoirs. Elliptical galaxies have dominated the total luminosity density in all optical bands at early epochs, when all their stars formed by means of rapid and very intense star-bursts. Irregular galaxies bring a negligible contribution to the total luminosity density in any band at any time. (abridged)

16 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (6)

• The Evolution of the Global Stellar Mass Density at 0 < z < 3
• The K20 survey. V The evolution of the near-IR Luminosity Function
• The Evolution of a Mass-Selected Sample of Early-Type Field Galaxies
• Chemical evolution and nature of Damped Lyman-Alpha systems
• Massive z ~ 1.3 evolved galaxies revealed
• Luminosity and Stellar Mass Functions of Local Star-Forming Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (23)

• Spitzer view on the evolution of star-forming galaxies from z=0 to z~3
• The evolution of the mass-metallicity relation in galaxies of different morphological types
• Gamma-ray burst progenitors
• A comprehensive set of elemental abundances in damped Ly-alpha systems: revealing the nature of these high-redshift galaxies
• The density of very massive evolved galaxies to z~1.7
• Death rate of massive stars at redshift ~0.3
• The Redshift Distribution of Type-Ia Supernovae: Constraints on Progenitors and Cosmic Star Formation History
• Can a "standard" Initial Mass Function explain the metal enrichment in clusters of galaxies?
• The chemical evolution of galaxies within the IGIMF theory: the [alpha/Fe] ratios and downsizing
• Identification of luminous infrared galaxies at 1<z<2.5
• Cosmic metal production and the mean metallicity of the Universe
• Evolution of chemical abundances in Seyfert galaxies
• The cosmic dust rate across the Universe
• Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background from Neutron Star r-mode Instability Revisited
• Cosmic Supernova Rates and the Hubble Sequence
• Constraining the star formation histories of GRB Host Galaxies from their observed abundance patterns
• On the evolution of the Fe abundance and of the Type Ia SN rate in clusters of galaxies
• Theoretical cosmic Type Ia supernova rates
• The connection between Gamma-ray bursts and Supernovae Ib/c
• Cosmic evolution of metal densities: the enrichment of the Inter-Galactic Medium
• Cosmic Star Formation: Constraints on the Galaxy Formation Models
• Cosmic star formation rate: a theoretical approach
• The two regimes of the cosmic sSFR evolution are due to spheroids and discs