An Analytical Framework for the Dust Content of Galaxies in the Early Universe

Nikopoulos, Georgios Panagiotis (2024) An Analytical Framework for the Dust Content of Galaxies in the Early Universe. Master's Thesis / Essay, Astronomy.

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Abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has pushed observational astronomy's boundaries, uncovering many galaxy candidates between up to redshift 16.5. Meanwhile, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) has examined the gas, dust, and interstellar medium (ISM) properties of galaxies up to z ∼ 7. Significant tensions between theory and observations arise, such as the non-evolving bright end of the UV LF at z ∼ 4 − 15 and the high dust-to-stellar mass ratios in star-forming galaxies. In this study, we investigate the dust content of galaxies, the processes shaping it, and its effect on high redshift observables in the context of the above tensions. We introduce an analytical model considering dust production in Type II Supernovae (SNII), dust destruction and ejection by SNII-induced shocks, dust growth by metal accretion and thermal sputtering. We test different assumptions, labelling our main model as the fiducial model. Our results show that dust production in SNII is the most important process across cosmic time. The fiducial model reproduces ALMA observations of the dust-to-stellar mass relation. We calibrate our models to match the UV LF up to z ∼ 13 and predict it up to z ∼ 15. Meanwhile, ALMA observations at z ∼ 5 and 7 are too obscured. This implies ALMA-detected galaxies are not representative of the average UV LF population. Finally, our fiducial model predicts high-redshift galaxies can contain significant dust, yet appear blue due to its spatial distribution.

Item Type:	Thesis (Master's Thesis / Essay)
Supervisor name:	Dayal, P.
Degree programme:	Astronomy
Thesis type:	Master's Thesis / Essay
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	11 Jul 2024 09:41
Last Modified:	11 Jul 2024 09:41
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/33236

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