Dust and Molecules in Early Galaxies: Prediction and Strategy for Observations

The interplay between dust and molecules is of fundamental importance in early galaxy evolution. First we present the prediction for the dust emission from forming galaxies. Then we discuss the observational strategy for molecules in early galaxies by infrared absorption lines of a bright continuum source behind the clouds. By combining these two approaches, we will be able to have a coherent picture of the very early stage of galaxy evolution.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, to appear in the proceedings of `Hunt for Molecules', IA

Clustering of Far-Infrared Galaxies in the AKARI All-Sky Survey

We present the first measurement of the angular two-point correlation function for AKARI 90-$\mu$m point sources, detected outside of the Milky Way plane and other regions characterized by high Galactic extinction, and categorized as extragalactic sources according to our far-infrared-color based criterion (Pollo et al. 2010). This is the first measurement of the large-scale angular clustering of galaxies selected in the far-infrared after IRAS measurements. Although a full description of clustering properties of these galaxies will be obtained by more detailed studies, using either spatial correlation function, or better information about properties and at least photometric redshifts of these galaxies, the angular correlation function remains the first diagnostics to establish the clustering properties of the catalog and observed galaxy population. We find a non-zero clustering signal in both hemispheres extending up to $\sim 40$ degrees, without any significant fluctuations at larger scales. The observed correlation function is well fitted by a power law function. The notable differences between a northern and southern hemisphere are found, which can be probably attributed to the photometry problems and point out to a necessity of performing a better calibration in the data from southern hemisphere.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Earth, Planets, and Spac

Star-galaxy separation by far-infrared color-color diagrams for the AKARI FIS All-Sky Survey (Bright Source Catalogue Version beta-1)

To separate stars and galaxies in the far infrared AKARI All-Sky Survey data, we have selected a sample with the complete color information available in the low extinction regions of the sky and constructed color-color plots for these data. We looked for the method to separate stars and galaxies using the color information. We performed an extensive search for the counterparts of these selected All-Sky Survey sources in the NED and SIMBAD databases. Among 5176 objects, we found 4272 galaxies, 382 other extragalactic objects, 349 Milky Way stars, 50 other Galactic objects, and 101 sources detected before in various wavelengths but of an unknown origin. 22 sources were left unidentified. Then, we checked colors of stars and galaxies in the far-infrared flux-color and color-color plots. In the resulting diagrams, stars form two clearly separated clouds. One of them is easy to be distinguished from galaxies and allows for a simple method of excluding a large part of stars using the far-infrared data. The other smaller branch, overplotting galaxies, consists of stars known to have an infrared excess, like Vega and some fainter stars discovered by IRAS or 2MASS. The color properties of these objects in any case make them very difficult to distinguish from galaxies. We conclude that the FIR color-color diagrams allow for a high-quality star-galaxy separation. With the proposed simple method we can select more that 95 % of galaxies rejecting at least 80 % of stars.Comment: 20 pages, 41 figures, "Astronomy & Astrophysics", accepted, to appear in the AKARI special issu

Star Formation and Dust Extinction Properties of Local Galaxies as seen from AKARI and GALEX

An accurate estimation of the star formation-related properties of galaxies is crucial for understanding the evolution of galaxies. In galaxies, ultraviolet (UV) light emitted by recently formed massive stars is attenuated by dust, which is also produced by star formation (SF) activity, and is reemitted at mid- and far- infrared (IR) wavelengths. In this study, we investigate the star formation rate (SFR) and dust extinction using UV and IR data. We selected local galaxies which are detected at AKARI FIS 90 um and matched the IRAS IIFSCz 60 um select catalog. We measured FUV and NUV flux densities from GALEX images. We examined the SF and extinction of Local galaxies using four bands of AKARI. Then, we calculated FUV and total IR luminosities, and obtained the SF luminosity, L_{SF}, the total luminosity related to star formation activity, and the SFR. We find that in most galaxies, L_{SF} is dominated by L_{dust}. We also find that galaxies with higher SF activity have a higher fraction of their SF hidden by dust. In fact, the SF of galaxies with SFRs >20 M_{sun}/yr is almost completely hidden by dust. Our results boast a significantly higher precision with respect to previously published works, due to the use of much larger object samples from the AKARI and GALEX all sky surveys.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Earth, Planets, and Space, A few minor corrections, and a reference adde

The Evolution of the Visible and Hidden Star Formation in the Universe: Implication from the Luminosity Functions at FUV and FIR

Based on GALEX and IRAS/Spitzer datasets, we have found that both FUV and FIR luminosity functions (LFs) show a strong evolution from z=0 to z=1, but the FIR LF evolves much stronger than the FUV one. Consequently, the FIR/FUV luminosity density ratio increases from 4 (z=0) to 15 (z=1). It means that more than 80% of the star-forming activity in the Universe is hidden by dust at z=1. To explore this issue further, we have performed a combined analysis of the galaxy sample in FUV and FIR. For the Local Universe we used GALEX-IRAS sample, whereas at z=1 we used the Lyman-break galaxy sample selected by GALEX bands constructed by Burgarella et al. (2005), which is known to be representative of visible (i.e., non-obscured) star-forming galaxies at z=1. From these datasets, we constructed the LFs of the FUV-selected galaxies by the survival analysis to, take into account the upper-limit data properly. We discovered that the FIR LF of the Lyman-break galaxies show a significant evolution comparing with the local FIR LF, but it is a factor of 2-3 lower than the global FIR LF (Le Floc'h et al. 2005). This indicates that the evolution of visible galaxies is not strong enough to explain the drastic evolution of the FIR LF. Namely, a FIR-luminous, rapidly diminishing population of galaxies is required.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, conference proceedings of "At the Edge of the Universe", Sintra 9-13 October 200