Models of Galaxy Evolution from the UV to the Sub-Millimeter

Gian Luigi Granato, Laura Silva, Lugi Danese, Alessandro Bressan, Alberto Franceschini, Cesare Chiosi

Published 1997-07-07Version 1

We present the first results of a detailed modeling of chemical and photometric evolution of galaxies including the effects of a dusty interstellar medium. A chemical evolution code follows the SF rate, the gas fraction and the metallicity, basic ingredients for the stellar population synthesis. The latter is performed with a grid of integrated spectra for SSP of different ages and metallicities, in which the effects of dusty envelopes around AGB stellar are included. The residual fraction of gas in the galaxy is divided into two phases: the star forming molecular clouds and the diffuse medium. The molecular gas is sub-divided into clouds of given mass and radius: it is supposed that any SSP is borne within the cloud and progressively escapes it. The emitted spectrum of the star forming molecular clouds is computed with a radiative transfer code. The diffuse dust emission (cirrus) is derived by describing the galaxy as an axially symmetric system, in which the local dust emissivity is consistently calculated as a function of the local field intensity due to the stellar component. Effects of very small grains, subject to temperature fluctuations, as well as PAH are included. The model is compared and calibrated with available data of starburst galaxies in the local universe, in particular new broad-band and spectroscopic ISO observations. It will be a fundamental tool to extract information on global evolution of the stellar component and of ISM of galaxies from observations covering four decades in $\lambda$. The combination of observations from HST, Keck, ISO and ground-based optical, IR and sub-mm telescopes already provided several objects at relevant $z$ with spectral information on this large $\lambda$ range. Their number will increase after the completion of ISO surveys, and will burst when SIRFT, FIRST, Planck