Cosmological Obscuration by Galactic Dust: Effects of Dust Evolution

Abstract

We explore the effects of dust in cosmologically distributed intervening galaxies on the high redshift universe using a generalised model where dust content evolves with cosmic time. The absorbing galaxies are modelled as exponential disks which form coevally, maintain a constant space density and evolve in dust content at a rate that is uniform throughout. We find that the inclusion of moderate to moderately weak amounts of evolution consistent with other studies can reduce the mean observed $B$-band optical depth to redshifts $z \simgt 1$ by at least 60% relative to non-evolving models. Our predictions imply that intervening galactic dust is unlikely to bias the optical counts of quasars at high redshifts and their evolution in space density derived therefrom.