Herschel PEP/HerMES: the redshift evolution (0 ≤ z ≤ 4) of dust attenuation and of the total (UV+IR) star formation rate density

D. Burgarella (1) , V. Buat (1) , C. Gruppioni (2) , O. Cucciati (2) , S. Heinis (1) , S. Berta , M. Béthermin (3) , J. Bock , A. Cooray , J. S. Dunlop , D. Farrah , A. Franceschini , E. Le Floc’h (3) , D. Lutz , B. Magnelli , R. Nordon , S. J. Oliver , M. J. Page , P. Popesso , F. Pozzi , L. Riguccini (3) , M. Vaccari , M. Viero

1 LAM - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
2 OABO - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna
3 AIM (UMR7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112) - Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation

Using new homogeneous luminosity functions (LFs) in the far-ultraviolet (FUV) from VVDS and in the far-infrared (FIR) from Herschel/PEP and Herschel/HerMES, we studied the evolution of the dust attenuation with redshift. With this information, we were able to estimate the redshift evolution of the total (FUV + FIR) star formation rate density (SFRDTOT). By integrating SFRDTOT, we followed the mass building and analyzed the redshift evolution of the stellar mass density (SMD). This article aims at providing a complete view of star formation from the local Universe to z ~ 4 and, using assumptions on earlier star formation history, compares this evolution with previously published data in an attempt to draw a homogeneous picture of the global evolution of star formation in galaxies. Our main conclusions are that: 1) the dust attenuation AFUV is found to increase from z = 0 to z ~ 1.2 and then starts to decrease until our last data point at z = 3.6; 2) the estimated SFRD confirms published results to z ~ 2. At z > 2, we observe either a plateau or a small increase up to z ~ 3 and then a likely decrease up to z = 3.6; 3) the peak of AFUV is delayed with respect to the plateau of SFRDTOT and a probable origin might be found in the evolution of the bright ends of the FUV and FIR LFs; 4) using assumptions (exponential rise and linear rise with time) for the evolution of the star formation density from z = 3.6 to zform = 10, we integrated SFRDTOT and obtained a good agreement with the published SMDs.

Keywords: galaxies: star formation; infrared: galaxies; early Universe; cosmology: observations; galaxies: starburst; ultraviolet: galaxies

Domains: Astrophysics [astro-ph]

D. Burgarella, V. Buat, C. Gruppioni, O. Cucciati, S. Heinis, et al.. Herschel PEP/HerMES: the redshift evolution (0 ≤ z ≤ 4) of dust attenuation and of the total (UV+IR) star formation rate density. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2013, 554, pp.A70. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/201321651⟩. ⟨cea-01135396⟩