Chemical Evolution in Hierarchical Clustering Scenarios

Abstract

We present first results of an implementation of chemical evolution in a cosmological hydrodynamical code, focusing the analysis on the effects of cooling baryons according to their metallicity. We found that simulations with primordial cooling can underestimate the star formation rate from $z<3$ and by up to $\approx 20$. We constructed simulated spectra by combining the star formation and chemical history of galactic systems with spectra synthesis models and assess the impact of chemical evolution on the energy distribution.

to appear in Recycling intergalactic and intersetellar matter, IAUSS Vol 217, 2004