Observability of Early Evolutionary Phases of Galaxies at mm Wavelengths

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Several lines of evidence and theoretical arguments suggest that a large fraction of starlight is absorbed by interstellar dust and re-radiated at far-IR wavelengths, particularly during early evolutionary phases of early type galaxies, which may even, under some circumstances, experience an optically thick phase. Therefore far-IR to mm observations are crucial to understand the galaxy evolution. The strong K-correction makes surveys at mm wavelengths ideally suited for studying high-z galaxies. The broad redshift range covered by mm surveys at sub-mJy flux limits offers a good chance for gaining important information also on the geometry of the Universe.