Far-Infrared Luminous Galaxies in Galaxy and Cluster Evolution

Far-Infrared Luminous galaxies are rare in the local universe but are much more common and individually much more luminous at the peak of star formation rate density in the universe at z~2. The research for this PhD thesis concerns the study of far-IR luminous galaxies to determine their role in galaxy formation and evolution, their connections to active galaxies and quasar triggering, and their involvement in the formation of galaxy clusters and protoclusters. The work will include the acquisition and analysis of new data from radio to optical wavelengths using facilities such as the Submillimeter Array and the ESO VLT, and the interpretation of these results within the context of current galaxy formation and evolution models.