ALMA has observed extremely dusty, star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at \(z>5\) in the rest-frame infrared and JWST has found a population of extremely reddend galaxies in the optical (i.e. highly dust attenuated) previously undetected by Hubble. These DSFGs at such high redshifts are a surprising find, opening up many questions:
How can galaxies form so much dust when the Universe is \(\lesssim 1\) Gyr old?
Can these observations constrain uncertainties in the dust life cycle?
Are observations of DSFGs biased to an extreme subsample of galaxies?
Using simulations of galaxies at high redshift incorporating dust evolution models, I attempt to answer these questions and provide insights for future observations with JWST.
Detailed observations of dust in local galaxies with optical and infrared telescopes show that dust populations vary in amount, chemical composition, and size both within galaxies and between them. In contrast, galaxy simulations typically treat dust passively, assuming a fixed dust composition with a total abundance set by a constant fraction (\({\sim} 40\%\)) of metals. By developing dust evolution models integrated into galaxy simulations we can answer key questions about dust in the local Universe.
Why does galactic dust abundance depend on metallicity?
Why are there more small dust grains and less carbonaceous dust in the Large and Small Maganellanic Clouds compared to the Milky Way?
What produces the variety of extinction curves we see in the Milky Way?
