Genesis and evolution of dust in galaxies in the early Universe I. Modelling dust evolution in starburst galaxies

Aims. The aim is to elucidate the astrophysical conditions required for generating large amounts of dust in massive starburst galaxies at high redshift. Methods. We have developed a numerical galactic chemical evolution model. The model is constructed such that the effect of a wide range of parameters can be investigated. It takes into account results from stellar evolution models, a differentiation between diverse types of core collapse supernovae (CCSN), and the contribution of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in the mass range 3-8 M-circle dot. We consider the lifetime-dependent yield injection into the interstellar medium (ISM) by all sources, and dust destruction due to supernova (SN) shocks in the ISM. We ascertain the temporal progression of the dust mass and the dust-to-gas and dust-to-metal mass ratios, as well as other physical properties of a galaxy, and study their dependence on the mass of the galaxy, the initial mass function (IMF), dust production efficiencies, and dust destruction in the ISM. Results. The amount of dust and the physical properties of a galaxy strongly depend on the initial gas mass available. Overall, while the total amount of dust produced increases with galaxy mass, the detailed outcome depends on the SN dust production efficiency, the IMF, and the strength of dust destruction in the ISM. Dust masses are higher for IMFs biased towards higher stellar masses, even though these IMFs are more strongly affected by dust destruction in the ISM. The sensitivity to the IMF increases as the mass of the galaxy decreases. SNe are primarily responsible for a significant enrichment with dust at early epochs (<200 Myr). Dust production with a dominant contribution by AGB stars is found to be insufficient to account for dust masses in excess of 10(8) M-circle dot within 400 Myr after starburst. Conclusions. We find that galaxies with initial gas masses between 1-5 x 10(11) M-circle dot are massive enough to enable production of dust masses >10(8) M-circle dot. Our preferred scenario is dominated by SN dust production in combination with top-heavy IMFs and moderate dust destruction in the ISM.