Galaxy formation from deep surveys with Herschel-PACS

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Postfach 1312, 85748 Garching, Germany

Abstract

Deep far-infrared photometric surveys studying galaxy evolution and the nature of the cosmic infrared background are a key strength of the Herschel mission. The PACS Evolutionary Probe (PEP) guaranteed time key program obtains deep photometric surveys of some of the key extragalactic multiwavelength fields at wavelengths between 70 and 160 μm. This contribution gives an overview of first science results, illustrating the potential of Herschel in providing calorimetric star formation rates for various high redshift galaxy populations, thus testing and superseding previous extrapolations from other wavelengths, and enabling a wide range of galaxy evolution studies.