The History of Star Forming Galaxies and their Environment as seen by Spitzer: A Review

Abstract

The advent of the Spitzer Space Telescope has revolutionized our understanding of the history of star formation and galaxy mass assembly in the Universe. The tremendous leap in sensitivity from previous mid-to-far IR missions has allowed Spitzer to perform deeper, and wider, surveys than previously possible at these wavelengths. In this brief review I highlight some of the key results to come out of these surveys, and the implications these have for current models of galaxy formation and evolution.

9 pages, 3 figures, invited review, to be published in the proceedings of the conference "AKARI, a light to illuminate the misty Universe", University of Tokyo, Japan, 16-19 February 2009