Published
The z < 1 drop of cosmic dust abundance in a semi-analytic framework

Massimiliano Parente, Cinthia Ragone-Figueroa, Gian Luigi Granato, Andrea Lapi

We adopt the L-Galaxies2020 model and extend it with (i) a state-of-the-art dust model and (ii) a new disc instability criterion which triggers bulge and central black hole growth. More in detail, our dust model includes dust production by SNII and AGB, grain growth in cold ISM, dust destruction by SNe shocks and grains sputtering in the hot phase. Moreover, it follows the mass evolution of grains with two different sizes and two chemical compositions (carbonaceous and silicate).
The model reproduces some fundamental properties of the local galaxy population, such as the fraction of spheroid-dominated galaxies and some crucial scaling relations involving dust in the 0 < z < 2.5 range. Noticeably, the model predicts a decrease of the galactic dust abundance from z ~ 1 to z = 0, which is observed but rarely reproduced by other cosmological models of galaxy evolution which include dust. This drop becomes closer to the observed one when adopting the new treatment of disc instabilities. This result is related to the newly implemented SMBH growth during disc instabilities, which enhances the quenching of massive galaxies. Consequently, these objects feature a lower gas and dust content.
We provide a census of the contribution of all the processes affecting the galactic dust content. Accretion is the dominant dust mass growth process. Destruction by supernovae, astration and ejection by winds have all a non-negligible role in decreasing the overall dust content in galaxies below z < 1. We also discuss predictions concerning extra-galactic dust, confirming that a sputtering efficiency lower than the canonical one is required to match the few available observations.