Cosmic Emissivity and Background Intensity from Damped Lyman-Alpha Galaxies

Abstract

We present a new method to compute the cosmic emissivity $\E_ν$ and background intensity $J_{\nu }$. Our method is based entirely on data from quasar absorption-line studies, namely, the comoving density of HI and the mean metallicity and dust-to-gas ratio in damped Ly$\alpha$ galaxies. These observations, when combined with models of cosmic chemical evolution, are sufficient to determine the comoving rate of star formation as a function of redshift. From this, we compute $\E_ν$ and $J_{\nu }$ using stellar population synthesis models. Our method includes a self-consistent treatment of the absorption and reradiation of starlight by dust. In all of our calculations, the near-UV emissivity declines rapidly between $z\approx 1$ and $z=0$, in agreement with estimates from the Canada-France Redshift Survey. The background intensity is consistent with a wide variety of observational limits and with a tentative detection at far-IR wavelengths.

Single PS file, To appear in the 10 June 1996 issue of ApJ Letters

References in corpus (1)

• The CANADA-FRANCE REDSHIFT SURVEY XIII: The luminosity density and star-formation history of the Universe to z ~ 1

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