The history of starburst galaxies

Dusty galaxies with luminosities in excess of 10^11 solar luminosities have been detected out to redshifts of about unity by the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), and to higher redshifts using millimetre(mm)- and submm-wave cameras on ground-based telescopes. The integrated properties of these more distant galaxies are also constrained by measurements of the intensity of the submm-wave background radiation. While it is generally unclear whether their energy is released by gravitational accretion or by star formation, circumstantial evidence favours star formation. Unless these high-redshift galaxies are extremely massive, which is not expected from standard models of galaxy evolution, this luminosity cannot be sustained for more than a fraction of a Hubble time, and so they are undergoing some sort of `bursting' behaviour. The interpretation and analysis of this population is discussed, and the key observations for deriving a robust history of their evolution, which is likely to be the history of starburst activity, are highlighted.