Quasars, Starbursts, and the Cosmic Energy Budget

Abstract

Observations in the far-infrared are the best way to make an unbiased survey of active galaxies in the loosest sense - but separating the true quasars from the starburst may be difficult. There is in fact much evidence to suggest that starburst and AGN activity are intimately connected, and FIRST will help us to explore this link. Since the last major FIRST conference in Grenoble, this issue has become even more central to modern astrophysics, with the realisation of the dominance of the FIR background, the discovery of high redshift SCUBA sources, and the emergence of the black hole mass deficit problem. What dominates the cosmic energy budget - nuclear fusion or accretion ?

Conference review from "The Promise of FIRST"; 6 pages, 4 figures