Chemically Consistent Evolution of Galaxies on Cosmological Timescales and the DLA Galaxy Population

Abstract

We describe the evolution of galaxies in a chemically consistent way accounting for the increasing initial metallicity of successive generations of stars. The enrichment of various types of model galaxies is compared with Damped Ly$\alpha$ (= DLA) abundances over the redshift range from $\mathrm{z}\sim 0$ through $\mathrm{z}>4.4$. We discuss properties and composition of the galaxy population giving rise to DLA absorption. Beyond evolution of individual galaxies a change is found in the composition of DLA galaxy samples from high to low redshift. Spectrophotometric properties are predicted for optical identifications of DLA galaxies.

4 pages, using moriond.sty, Proceedings of the XIXth Moriond Astrophysics Meeting `Building Galaxies: from the Primordial Universe to the Present', Les Arcs, March 1999