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Paper: The cosmic submillimeter background - A signature of the initial burst of galaxy formation?
Volume: 10, Evolution of the Universe of Galaxies: Edwin Hubble Centennial Symposium
Page: 228
Authors: Djorgovski, S.; Weir, W. N.
Abstract: A heuristic model for the origin of the cosmic submillimeter background (SMB), reported by the Nagoya-Berkeley collaboration, is proposed. The SMB is interpreted as a direct signature of an epoch of (initial) galaxy formation at zgf of about 10 - 15. The sources of the SMB are proposed to be dust-shrouded starburst protogalaxies, similar to the luminous IRAS galaxies at low redshifts. They are interpreted as the progenitors of old stellar populations at low redshifts, ellipticals, bulges, and stellar components of the halos. The largest allowed time scales for the star formation in these models are in the range FWHM of about 0.2 - 0.6 Gyr, for Omega0 = 0.1; for Omega0 = 1, the allowed widths are aobut a factor of two lower. This postulated population of protogalaxies may be an important contributor to the diffuse soft X-ray background. The predicted surface density of protogalaxies would be in the range of about 10-100/arcsec, which is consistent with all relevant anisotropy measurements available at this time.
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