Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Oct 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003pobeo..75..159c&link_type=abstract
Publications of the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade (ISSN 0373-3742), No. 75, p. 159 - 165 (2003). In: Proceedings of the X
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Cosmology
Scientific paper
We investigate the impact of recent advances in research in the gaseous content of the universe on our knowledge of star formation histories of spiral galaxies. The discovery of low-redshift population of Lyα absorbers and first steps made in understanding of the transition between high-redshift intergalactic and low-redshift galactic population of QSO absorption systems, significantly reshape our picture of the gaseous content of the universe. It turns out that large quantities of gas which has not been astrated or has been astrated only weakly are bound to galaxies at later epochs (z≤1). Such aggregates present a potential reservoir of gas not only for solution of the gas consumption puzzle in spiral disks, but also as a fuel for the future star formation. This baryonic transition from diffuse toward collapsed state, although still hard to establish quantitatively, is a result of several simple physical processes. The resulting increase in the star formation timescales of spiral galaxies has some interesting consequences for the long-term future development of life and intelligent observers in the galactic context. Admittedly highly speculative, this qualitative picture may hopefully provide a motivation for detailed numerical modelling of the physical processes involved.
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