Molecular gas in distant galaxies from ALMA studies

Abstract

ALMA is now fully operational, and has been observing in early science mode since 2011. The millimetric (mm) and sub-mm domain is ideal to tackle galaxies at high redshift, since the emission peak of the dust at 100$\mu$m is shifted in the ALMA bands (0.3mm to 1mm) for z=2 to 9, and the CO lines, stronger at the high-J levels of the ladder, are found all over the 0.3-3mm range. Pointed surveys and blind deep fields have been observed, and the wealth of data collected reveal a drop at high redshifts (z $>$ 6) of dusty massive objects, although surprisingly active and gas-rich objects have been unveiled through gravitational lensing. The window of the reionization epoch is now wide open, and ALMA has detected galaxies at z=8-9 mainly in continuum, [CII] and [OIII] lines. Galaxies have a gas fraction increasing steeply with redshift, as (1+z)${}^2$, while their star formation efficiency increases also but more slightly, as (1+z)${}^{0.6}$ to (1+z)${}^1$. Individual object studies have revealed luminous quasars, with black hole masses much higher than expected, clumpy galaxies with resolved star formation rate compatible with the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation, extended cold and dense gas in a circumgalactic medium, corresponding to Lyman-$\alpha$ blobs, and proto-clusters, traced by their brightest central galaxies.

38 pages, 12 Figures, Invited Review for the Astronomy & Astrophysics Review

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