A meta-analysis of cosmic star-formation history

Over the past decade increasingly robust estimates of the dense molecular gas content in galaxy populations between redshift 0 and the peak of cosmic galaxy/star formation from redshift 1-3 have become available. This rapid progress has been possible due to the advent of powerful ground-based, and space telescopes for combined study of several millimeter to far-IR, line or continuum tracers of the molecular gas and dust components. The main conclusions of this review are: 1...

We investigate the evolution of the H$\beta$+[OIII] and [OII] luminosity functions from $z \sim 0.8$ to $\sim5$ in four redshift slices per emission line using data from the High-{\it z} Emission Line Survey (HiZELS). This is the first time that the H$\beta$+[OIII] and [OII] luminosity functions have been studied at these redshifts in a self-consistent analysis. This is also the largest sample of [OII] and H$\beta$+[OIII] emitters (3475 and 3298 emitters, respectively) in thi...

Strong constraints on the cosmic star formation history (SFH) have recently been established using ultraviolet and far-infrared measurements, refining the results of numerous measurements over the past decade. Taken together, the most recent and robust data indicate a compellingly consistent picture of the SFH out to redshift z~6, with especially tight constraints for z < 1. There have also been a number of dedicated efforts to measure or constrain the SFH at z~6 and beyond. ...

The build-up of stellar mass in galaxies is the consequence of their past star formation and merging histories. Here we report measurements of rest-frame optical light and calculations of stellar mass at high redshift based on an infrared-selected sample of galaxies from the Hubble Deep Field North. The bright envelope of rest-frame B-band galaxy luminosities is similar from 0<z<3, and the co-moving luminosity density is constant to within a factor of 3 over that redshift ran...

We use a 24 micron selected sample containing more than 8,000 sources to study the evolution of star-forming galaxies in the redshift range from z=0 to z~3. We obtain photometric redshifts for most of the sources in our survey using a method based on empirically-built templates spanning from ultraviolet to mid-infrared wavelengths. The accuracy of these redshifts is better than 10% for 80% of the sample. The derived redshift distribution of the sources detected by our survey ...

We measure the H{\alpha} and [OIII] emission line properties as well as specific star-formation rates (sSFR) of spectroscopically confirmed 3<z<6 galaxies in COSMOS from their observed colors vs. redshift evolution. Our model describes consistently the ensemble of galaxies including intrinsic properties (age, metallicity, star-formation history), dust-attenuation, and optical emission lines. We forward-model the measured H{\alpha} equivalent-widths (EW) to obtain the sSFR out...

Essentially everything of astronomical interest is either part of a galaxy, or from a galaxy, or otherwise relevant to the origin or evolution of galaxies. Diverse examples are that the isotropic composition of meteorites provides clues to the history of star formation billions of years ago, and cosmological tests for the deceleration of the Universe are strongly affected by changes in the luminosities of galaxies during the lookback time sampled. The aim of this article is t...

The cosmic star formation rate (CSFR), namely the star formation rate in a unitary comoving volume of the Universe, is a fundamental clue to investigate the history of the assembling and evolution of structures in the Universe. Here we develop a method to study the CSFR from a purely theoretical point of view. Starting from detailed models of chemical evolution, which best fit the properties of local galaxies, we obtain the histories of star formation of galaxies of different...

Recent measurements of the temperature of the sky in the radio band, combined with literature data, have convincingly shown the existence of a cosmic radio background with an amplitude of $\sim 1$ K at 1 GHz and a spectral energy distribution that is well described by a power law with index $\alpha \simeq -0.6$. The origin of this signal remains elusive, and it has been speculated that it could be dominated by the contribution of star-forming galaxies at high redshift \change...

We investigate the evolution of the universal rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity density from z = 1.5 to the present. We analyze an extensive sample of multicolor data (U', B, V = 24.5) plus spectroscopic redshifts from the Hawaii Survey Fields and the Hubble Deep Field. Our multicolor data allow us to select our sample in the rest-frame ultraviolet (2500 angstrom) over the entire redshift range to z = 1.5. We conclude that the evolution in the luminosity density is a function...