GAMA/DEVILS: constraining the cosmic star formation history from improved measurements of the 0.3-2.2 μm extragalactic background light

We present a revised measurement of the optical extragalactic background light (EBL), based on the contribution of resolved galaxies to the integrated galaxy light (IGL). The cosmic optical background radiation (COB), encodes the light generated by star formation, and provides a wealth of information about the cosmic star formation history (CSFH). We combine wide and deep galaxy number counts from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey (GAMA) and Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS), along with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) archive and other deep survey data sets, in nine multiwavelength filters to measure the COB in the range from 0.35 mu m to 2.2 mu m. We derive the luminosity density in each band independently and show good agreement with recent and complementary estimates of the optical-EBL from very high-energy (VHE) experiments. Our error analysis suggests that the IGL and gamma-ray measurements are now fully consistent to within similar to 10 per cent, suggesting little need for any additional source of diffuse light beyond the known galaxy population. We use our revised IGL measurements to constrain the CSFH, and place amplitude constraints on a number of recent estimates. As a consistency check, we can now demonstrate convincingly, that the CSFH, stellar mass growth, and the optical-EBL provide a fully consistent picture of galaxy evolution. We conclude that the peak of star formation rate lies in the range 0.066-0.076 M-circle dot yr(-1) Mpc(-3) at a lookback time of 9.1 to 10.9 Gyr.

Automated summary

This study presents a revised measurement of the optical extragalactic background light based on the contribution of resolved galaxies, confirming the peak of star formation rate and the consistency in galaxy evolution. The results also show good agreement with recent estimates and suggest no need for additional diffuse light sources beyond known galaxy populations.