Eli Dwek (GSFC) --- The Evolution of Dust in the Local and High Redshift Universe

Dust is formed in the ejecta of core collapse supernovae (CCSN) and in the winds of AGB stars. After injection into the interstellar medium, dust is destroyed by expanding supernova blast waves. Stellar sources and supernovae remnants are resolved in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs), providing a unique opportunity to study and compare the rates of dust formation and destruction in great detail. Conditions are very different in the high redshift universe, where dust can only form in CCSNe, since the low mass AGB stars have not yet evolved off the main sequence. In this talk I will discuss the evolution of dust in the MCs as well as in the ejecta of SN1987A. I will also describe our recent quest for detecting the youngest dust forming galaxy in the universe. Even though the quest was unsuccessful, it led to a deeper understanding of the conditions needed to form dust merely a few hudred million years after the Big Bang.