Pathways through interstellar matter: - From the closest stars to the most distant quasars

TL;DR

This paper reviews how interstellar dust affects our understanding of star formation history across cosmic time, using quasar absorption systems and local interstellar studies as references.

Contribution

It highlights the importance of dust in interpreting high-redshift interstellar media and demonstrates potential biases in metallicity measurements due to dust extinction.

Findings

Dust significantly influences star formation studies at high redshift.

Dust extinction can bias metallicity distributions in absorption surveys.

Local interstellar studies help interpret distant interstellar media.

Abstract

Observations of quasar absorption systems relevant for studies of star formation at redshift 2 </= z </= 4 are briefly reviewed. Emphasis is given on the role played by dust in our understanding of the star formation history of galaxies detected as absorption systems. Local interstellar studies are used as a reference for understanding the properties of high redshift interstellar media. An example is shown of the potential effects of dust extinction on the metallicity-N(HI) distribution obtained from magnitude-limited surveys of damped lyman alpha absorbers.