Star formation and chemical evolution in damped Ly alpha clouds

Using the redshift evolution of the neutral hydrogen density, as inferred from observations of damped Ly alpha clouds, we calculate the evolution of star formation rates and elemental abundances in the universe. For most observables, our calculations are in rough agreement with previous results based on the instantaneous recycling approximation (IRA). However, for the key metallicity tracer Zn, we find a better match to the observed abundance at high redshift than that given by the constant-yield IRA model. We investigate whether the redshift evolution of deuterium, depressions in the diffuse extragalactic gamma-ray background, and measurement of the MeV neutrino background may help determine if observational bias due to dust obscuration is important. We also indicate how the importance of dust on the calculations can be significantly reduced if correlations of the H I column density with metallicity are present. The possibilities for measuring q(0) with observations of elemental abundances in damped Ly alpha systems are discussed.