Future millimeter, submillimeter and far-infrared surveys and their successful follow up

Abstract

The first unbiased surveys for high-redshift galaxies in the submillimeter (submm) and far-infrared (FIR) wavebands have been made over the last two years. When combined with the intensity of extragalactic background radiation in the same wavebands, we have a reasonable first view of the dust enshrouded Universe. Limited spatial resolution hampers the identification of the submm galaxies, and follow-up observations currently consume much larger amounts of telescope time than the initial submm-wave detections. Here the prospects for future submm/FIR surveys are discussed, highlighting the importance of planning careful multiwaveband radio/submm/FIR observations. These can be used to yield photometric redshift information. Radio observations are vital to give accurate positions for the detected sources.