Submillimetre Cosmology at High Angular Resolution

Abstract

Over the last decade observations at submillimetre (submm) and millimetre (mm) wavelengths, with their unique ability to trace molecular gas and dust, have attained a central role in our exploration of galaxies at all redshifts. Due to the limited sensitivities and angular resolutions of current submm/mm telescopes, however, only the most luminous objects have been uncovered at high redshifts, with interferometric follow-up observations succeeding in resolving the dust and gas reservoirs in only a handful of cases. The coming years will witness a drastic improvement in the current situation, thanks to the arrival of a new suite of powerful submm observatories (single-dish and interferometers) with an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity and resolution. In this overview I outline a few of what I expect to be the major advances in the field of galaxy formation and evolution that these new ground-breaking facilities will facilitate.

(10 pages, 3 figures. Invited talk, proceedings for the 3rd ARENA Conference "An astronomical observatory at CONCORDIA (Antarctica) for the next decade", 11-15 May 2009, Frascati, Italy

References in corpus (5)

• Submillimeter Galaxies at z~2: Evidence for Major Mergers & Constraints on Lifetimes, IMF and CO-H2 Conversion Factor
• A Kiloparsec-Scale Hyper-Starburst in a Quasar Host Less than 1 Gigayear after the Big Bang
• HST and Spitzer imaging of red and blue galaxies at z~2.5: A correlation between size and star formation activity from compact quiescent galaxies to extended star forming galaxies
• Dynamical Properties of z~2 Star Forming Galaxies and a Universal Star Formation Relation
• Testing the Evolutionary Link Between Submillimetre Galaxies and Quasars: CO Observations of QSOs at z~2