Bursting dwarf galaxies from the far-UV and deep surveys

Abstract

The far-ultraviolet (UV) counts and the deep optical spectroscopic surveys have revealed an unexpected number of very blue galaxies (vBG). Using constraints from the UV and optical, we apply the galaxy evolution model PEGASE (Fioc & Rocca-Volmerange 1997, hereafter FRV) to describe this population with a cycling star formation. When added to normally evolving galaxy populations, vBG are able to reproduce UV number counts and color distributions as well as deep optical redshift distributions fairly well. Good agreement is also obtained with optical counts (including the Hubble Deep Field). The number of vBG is only a small fraction of the number of normal galaxies, even at faintest magnitudes. In our modelling, the latter explain the bulk of the excess of faint blue galaxies in an open Universe. The problem of the blue excess remains in a flat Universe without cosmological constant.