The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey: Molecular gas budget in the Early Universe as traced by [CII]

Abstract

The molecular gas content of normal galaxies at z>4 is poorly constrained, because the commonly used molecular gas tracers become hard to detect. We use the [CII]158um luminosity, recently proposed as a molecular gas tracer, to estimate the molecular gas content in a large sample of main-sequence star-forming galaxies at z=4.4-5.9, with a median stellar mass of 10^9.7 Msun, drawn from the ALMA Large Program to INvestigate [CII] at Early times (ALPINE) survey. The agreement between molecular gas masses derived from [CII] luminosity, dynamical mass, and rest-frame 850um luminosity, extrapolated from the rest-frame 158um continuum, supports [CII] as a reliable tracer of molecular gas in our sample. We find a continuous decline of the molecular gas depletion timescale from z=0 to z=5.9, which reaches a mean value of (4.6+/-0.8)x10^8 yr at z~5.5, only a factor of 2-3 shorter than in present-day galaxies. This suggests a mild enhancement of star formation efficiency toward high redshifts, unless the molecular gas fraction significantly increases. Our estimates show that the rise in molecular gas fraction as reported previously, flattens off above z~3.7 to achieve a mean value of 63%+/-3 over z=4.4-5.9. This redshift evolution of the gas fraction is in line with the one of the specific star formation rate. We use multi-epoch abundance matching to follow the gas fraction evolution over cosmic time of progenitors of z=0 Milky Way-like galaxies in 10^13 Msun halos and of more massive z=0 galaxies in 10^14 Msun halos. Interestingly, the former progenitors show a monotonic decrease of the gas fraction with cosmic time, while the latter show a constant gas fraction from z=5.9 to z~2 and a decrease at z<2. We discuss three possible effects, namely outflows, halt of gas supplying, and over-efficient star formation, which may jointly contribute to the gas fraction plateau of the latter massive galaxies.

arXiv comment16 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics

References in corpus (145)

• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• Star Formation in Galaxies Along the Hubble Sequence
• The Global Schmidt Law in Star Forming Galaxies
• How Do Galaxies Get Their Gas?
• The CO-to-H2 Conversion Factor
• The Average Star Formation Histories of Galaxies in Dark Matter Halos from z=0-8
• CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey - The Hubble Space Telescope Observations, Imaging Data Products and Mosaics
• The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) -- Overview
• The Star Formation Law in Nearby Galaxies on Sub-Kpc Scales
• [O III]/[N II] as an Abundance Indicator at High Redshift
• Galaxy Bimodality due to Cold Flows and Shock Heating
• Cold streams in early massive hot haloes as the main mode of galaxy formation
• A Highly Consistent Framework for the Evolution of the Star-Forming "Main Sequence" from z~0-6
• Galactic star formation and accretion histories from matching galaxies to dark matter haloes
• UniverseMachine: The Correlation between Galaxy Growth and Dark Matter Halo Assembly from z=0-10
• The SINS survey: SINFONI Integral Field Spectroscopy of z ~ 2 Star-forming Galaxies
• Cool Gas in High Redshift Galaxies
• A fundamental relation between mass, SFR and metallicity in local and high redshift galaxies
• Introducing the Illustris Project: the evolution of galaxy populations across cosmic time
• The Mass-Metallicity Relation at z~2
• AMAZE. I. The evolution of the mass-metallicity relation at z>3
• A Study of the Gas-Star Formation Relation over Cosmic Time
• PHIBSS: molecular gas content and scaling relations in z~1-3 normal star forming galaxies
• Very High Gas Fractions and Extended Gas Reservoirs in z=1.5 Disk Galaxies
• Gas-regulation of galaxies: the evolution of the cosmic sSFR, the metallicity-mass-SFR relation and the stellar content of haloes
• Constraining the Low-Mass Slope of the Star Formation Sequence at 0.5<z<2.5
• The lesser role of starbursts for star formation at z=2
• Line formation in solar granulation: IV. [O I], OI and OH lines and the photospheric O abundance
• Galaxies in a simulated $\Lambda$CDM Universe I: cold mode and hot cores
• The COSMOS Survey: Hubble Space Telescope / Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST/ACS) Observations and Data Processing
• Different star formation laws for disks versus starbursts at low and high redshifts
• The Dark Molecular Gas
• Molecular Gas and Star Formation in Nearby Disk Galaxies
• PHIBSS: Unified Scaling Relations of Gas Depletion Time and Molecular Gas Fractions
• Combined CO & Dust Scaling Relations of Depletion Time and Molecular Gas Fractions with Cosmic Time, Specific Star Formation Rate and Stellar Mass
• The Chandra Deep Field South: the 1 Million Second
• The Impact of cold gas accretion above a mass floor on galaxy scaling relations
• The KMOS^3D Survey: design, first results, and the evolution of galaxy kinematics from 0.7<z<2.7
• The CO-to-H2 Conversion Factor From Infrared Dust Emission Across the Local Group
• The Evolving Interstellar Medium of Star Forming Galaxies Since z=2 as Probed by Their Infrared Spectral Energy Distributions
• xCOLD GASS: the complete IRAM-30m legacy survey of molecular gas for galaxy evolution studies
• ISM masses and the star formation law at Z = 1 to 6 // ALMA observations of dust continuum in 145 galaxies in the COSMOS survey field
• A survey of molecular gas in luminous sub-millimetre galaxies
• The Interstellar Medium In Galaxies Seen A Billion Years After The Big Bang
• The applicability of FIR fine-structure lines as Star Formation Rate tracers over wide ranges of metallicities and galaxy types
• Galaxy Evolution in Cosmological Simulations with Outflows II: Metallicities and Gas Fractions
• EMERGE - An empirical model for the formation of galaxies since $z\sim 10$
• Far Infrared Spectroscopy of Normal Galaxies: Physical Conditions in the Interstellar Medium
• COLD GASS, an IRAM Legacy Survey of Molecular Gas in Massive Galaxies: II. The non-universality of the Molecular Gas Depletion Timescale
• Star Formation and Gas Kinematics of Quasar Host Galaxies at z~6: New insights from ALMA
• The Confinement of Star-Forming Galaxies into a Main Sequence through Episodes of Gas Compaction, Depletion, and Replenishment
• Evidence for Ubiquitous Collimated Galactic-Scale Outflows along the Star-Forming Sequence at z~0.5
• The Kiloparsec-Scale Kinematics of High-Redshift Star-Forming Galaxies
• Regularity underlying complexity: a redshift-independent description of the continuous variation of galaxy-scale molecular gas properties in the mass-star formation rate plane
• Evolution of Interstellar Medium, Star Formation, and Accretion at High Redshift
• Evolution of the dust emission of massive galaxies up to z=4 and constraints on their dominant mode of star formation
• The metallicity dependence of the CO {\rightarrow} H_2 conversion factor in z>1 star forming galaxies
• The evolution of the dust and gas content in galaxies
• CO excitation of normal star forming galaxies out to z=1.5 as regulated by the properties of their interstellar medium
• A Herschel/PACS Far Infrared Line Emission Survey of Local Luminous Infrared Galaxies
• The Evolution of ISM Mass Probed by Dust Emission -- ALMA Observations at z = 0.3 to 2
• Validation of the equilibrium model for galaxy evolution to z~3 through molecular gas and dust observations of lensed star-forming galaxies
• Molecular and atomic gas along and across the main sequence of star-forming galaxies
• A Turnover in the Galaxy Main Sequence of Star Formation at $M_{\ast }\sim 10^{10}{M}_{\odot }$ for Redshifts $z<1.3$
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: data processing, catalogs, and statistical source properties
• The [C II] emission as a molecular gas mass tracer in galaxies at low and high redshift
• The Herschel Dwarf Galaxy Survey: I. Properties of the low-metallicity ISM from PACS spectroscopy
• Dust temperature and mid-to-total infrared color distributions for star-forming galaxies at 0<z<4
• [CII] 158 $\mu$m Emission as a Star Formation Tracer
• On the [CII]-SFR relation in high redshift galaxies
• UVMULTIFIT: A versatile tool for fitting astronomical radio interferometric data
• The impact of clustering and angular resolution on far-infrared and millimeter continuum observations
• Characterisation of SCUBA-2 450um and 850um-selected Galaxies in the COSMOS Field
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey. Little to no evolution in the [CII]-SFR relation over the last 13 Gyr
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey: Star-formation-driven outflows and circumgalactic enrichment in the early Universe
• The ALMA Spectroscopic Survey in the HUDF: CO luminosity functions and the molecular gas content of galaxies through cosmic history
• The FMOS-Cosmos Survey of Star-Forming Galaxies at z~1.6 II. The Mass-Metallicity Relation and the Dependence on Star Formation Rate and Dust Extinction
• The evolving SFR-M_star relation and sSFR since z~5 from the VUDS spectroscopic survey
• GOODS-Herschel~: Gas-to-dust mass ratios and CO-to-H_2 conversion factors in normal and starbursting galaxies at high-z
• The reliability of [CII] as a star formation rate indicator
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: Multi-Wavelength Ancillary Data and Basic Physical Measurements
• An analytic solution for the minimal bathtub toy model: challenges in the star-formation history of high-z galaxies
• Dust temperature and CO-to-H2 conversion factor variations in the SFR-M* plane
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: Size of Individual Star-Forming Galaxies at z=4-6 and their Extended Halo Structure
• First Identification of 10-kpc Scale [CII] 158um Halos around Star-Forming Galaxies at z=5-7
• A Consistent Study of Metallicity Evolution at 0.8 < z < 2.6
• Automated Mining of the ALMA Archive in the COSMOS Field (A3COSMOS): II. Cold Molecular Gas Evolution out to Redshift 6
• The impact of chemistry on the structure of high-z galaxies
• A Herschel [CII] Galactic plane survey III: [CII] as a tracer of star formation
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey: Dust attenuation properties and obscured star formation at z~4.4-5.8
• A Survey of Atomic Carbon [C I] in High-redshift Main-Sequence Galaxies
• Gas fraction and star formation efficiency at z < 1.0
• The equilibrium view on dust and metals in galaxies: Galactic outflows drive low dust-to-metal ratios in dwarf galaxies
• A Coherent Study of Emission Lines from Broad-Band Photometry: Specific Star-Formation Rates and [OIII]/Hβ Ratio at 3 < z < 6
• PHIBSS2: survey design and z=0.5-0.8 results. Molecular gas reservoirs during the winding-down of star formation
• [CII] 158 micron Luminosities and Star Formation Rate in Dusty Starbursts and AGN
• Dust continuum emission as a tracer of gas mass in galaxies
• A higher efficiency of converting gas to stars push galaxies at z ~ 1.6 well above the star-forming main sequence
• The COSMOS2015 galaxy stellar mass function: 13 billion years of stellar mass assembly in 10 snapshots
• The Origins of [CII] Emission in Local Star-forming Galaxies
• The Herschel Dwarf Galaxy Survey: II. Physical conditions, origin of [CII] emission, and porosity of the multiphase low-metallicity ISM
• A physical model for [CII] line emission from galaxies
• SHINING, A Survey of Far Infrared Lines in Nearby Galaxies. II: Line-Deficit Models, AGN impact, [CII]-SFR Scaling Relations, and Mass-Metallicity Relation in (U)LIRGS
• ALLSMOG: an APEX Low-redshift Legacy Survey for MOlecular Gas. I - molecular gas scaling relations, and the effect of the CO/H2 conversion factor
• Gas Fraction and Depletion Time of Massive Star Forming Galaxies at z~3.2: No Change in Global Star Formation Process out to z>3
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: Obscured Star Formation Rate Density and Main Sequence of star-forming galaxies at z>4
• The SWELLS survey. IV. Precision measurements of the stellar and dark matter distributions in a spiral lens galaxy
• Molecular gas content in strongly-lensed z~1.5-3 star-forming galaxies with low IR luminosities
• Automated Mining of the ALMA Archive in the COSMOS Field (A3COSMOS): I. Robust ALMA Continuum Photometry Catalogs and Stellar Mass and Star Formation Properties for ~700 Galaxies at z=0.5-6
• Molecular clouds in the Cosmic Snake normal star-forming galaxy 8 billion years ago
• Vortex buoyancy in superfluid and superconducting neutron stars
• The ALMA Spectroscopic Survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Evolution of the molecular gas in CO-selected galaxies
• CO line emission from galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization
• Dust and Gas in Star Forming Galaxies at z~3 - Extending Galaxy Uniformity to 11.5 Billion Years
• A physical model for the [CII]-FIR deficit in luminous galaxies
• Size evolution of star-forming galaxies with $2<z<4.5$ in the VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey
• Fast Outflows Identified in Early Star-Forming Galaxies at $z=5-6$
• Environmental impacts on molecular gas in protocluster galaxies at z~2
• The Molecular Gas Reservoirs of $z\sim 2$ Galaxies: A comparison of CO(1-0) and dust-based molecular gas masses
• Witnessing galaxy assembly at the edge of the reionization epoch
• The molecular gas content and fuel efficiency of starbursts at z ~ 1.6 with ALMA
• SINFONI-HiZELS: The dynamics, merger rates & metallicity gradients of `typical' star-forming galaxies at $z$ = 0.8-2.2
• Low star formation efficiency in typical galaxies at z=5-6
• Molecular gas properties of a lensed star-forming galaxy at z~3.6: a case study
• VALES: III. The calibration between the dust continuum and interstellar gas content of star-forming galaxies
• The UV and Ly$\alpha$ Luminosity Functions of galaxies and the Star Formation Rate Density at the end of HI reionization from the VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey (VUDS)
• Submillimeter flux as a probe of molecular ISM mass in high-$z$ galaxies
• AGN-enhanced outflows of low-ionization gas in star-forming galaxies at 1.7<z<4.6
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: A Triple Merger at z~4.56
• A Simple Non-equilibrium Feedback Model for Galaxy-Scale Star Formation: Delayed Feedback and SFR Scatter
• Radiative transfer meets Bayesian statistics: where does a galaxy's [CII] emission come from?
• High gas fraction in a CO-selected main-sequence galaxy at $z>3$
• An alternate approach to measure specific star formation rates at 2<z<7
• The relationship between dust and [CI] at z=1 and beyond
• The kiloparsec-scale gas kinematics in two star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 1.47$ seen with ALMA and VLT-SINFONI
• KMOS LENsing Survey (KLENS) : morpho-kinematic analysis of star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 2$
• VALES: II. The physical conditions of interstellar gas in normal star-forming galaxies up to z=0.2 revealed by ALMA
• On the Interpretation of Far-infrared Spectral Energy Distributions. I: The 850 $\mu$m Molecular Mass Estimator
• Dark Molecular Gas in Simulations of z~0 Disc Galaxies
• Properties of the Interstellar Medium in Star-Forming Galaxies at z~1.4 revealed with ALMA
• ALMA reveals the molecular gas properties of 5 star-forming galaxies across the main sequence at 3 < z < 3.5
• [C II] and [N II] from dense ionized regions in the Galaxy
• Evolution of the Gas Mass Fraction of Progenitors to Today's Massive Galaxies: ALMA Observations in the CANDELS GOODS-S Field
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: CGM pollution and gas mixing by tidal stripping in a merging system at z~4.57
• ALMA resolves the molecular gas in a young low-metallicity starburst galaxy at z=1.7

Cited by in corpus (77)

• JADES. The diverse population of infant Black Holes at 4<z<11: merging, tiny, poor, but mighty
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: data processing, catalogs, and statistical source properties
• Tracing the total molecular gas in galaxies: [CII] and the CO-dark gas
• Photodissociation and X-Ray Dominated Regions
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey. Little to no evolution in the [CII]-SFR relation over the last 13 Gyr
• Normal, Dust-Obscured Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization
• The Kinematics of z ~ 6 Quasar Host Galaxies
• An ALMA/NOEMA survey of the molecular gas properties of high-redshift star-forming galaxies
• JADES: The incidence rate and properties of galactic outflows in low-mass galaxies across 3 < z < 9
• Dust temperature in ALMA $\hbox{[C $\scriptstyle\rm II $]}$-detected high-$z$ galaxies
• Metallicity dependence of the H/H${}_2$ and C${}^{+}$/C/CO distributions in a resolved self-regulating interstellar medium
• Knocking on giants' doors: I. The evolution of the dust-to-stellar mass ratio in distant dusty galaxies
• ALMA Lensing Cluster Survey: Bright [CII] 158 $\mu$m Lines from a Multiply Imaged Sub-$L^{\star }$ Galaxy at $z=6.0719$
• The gas and stellar content of a metal-poor galaxy at $z=8.496$ as revealed by JWST and ALMA
• Tracing Molecular Gas in z $\simeq$ 6 Galaxies with [C$\mathrm{II}$]
• A${}^3$COSMOS: A census on the molecular gas mass and extent of main-sequence galaxies across cosmic time
• Kiloparsec view of a typical star-forming galaxy when the Universe was $\sim$1 Gyr old II. Regular rotating disk and evidence for baryon dominance on galactic scales
• A new look at the infrared properties of z $\sim$ 5 galaxies
• GOODS-ALMA 2.0: Starbursts in the main sequence reveal compact star formation regulating galaxy evolution prequenching
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey: Dust mass budget in the early Universe
• MIRI/JWST observations reveal an extremely obscured starburst in the z=6.9 system SPT0311-58
• The ALPINE-ALMA [C II] Survey: [C II]158micron Emission Line Luminosity Functions at $z\sim 4-6$
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey: dust attenuation curves at z=4.4-5.5
• The ALMA-CRISTAL survey: Widespread dust-obscured star formation in typical star-forming galaxies at z=4-6
• [CII] halos in ALPINE galaxies: smoking-gun of galactic outflows?
• Anatomy of a z=6 Lyman-α emitter down to parsec scales: extreme UV slopes, metal-poor regions and possibly leaking star clusters
• Rapid build-up of the stellar content in the protocluster core SPT2349$-$56 at $z=4.3$
• The ALMA-CRISTAL survey: Gas, dust, and stars in star-forming galaxies when the Universe was ~1 Gyr old I. Survey overview and case studies
• Atomic and molecular gas from the epoch of reionization down to redshift 2
• Probing cold gas in a massive, compact star-forming galaxy at z=6
• The ALMA-CRISTAL Survey: Spatial extent of [CII] line emission in star-forming galaxies at $z=4-6$
• The ALMA REBELS Survey: Discovery of a massive, highly star-forming and morphologically complex ULIRG at $z=7.31$
• The mass-metallicity relation as a ruler for galaxy evolution: insights from the James Webb Space Telescope
• Observations of neutral carbon in 29 high-z lensed dusty star forming galaxies and the comparison of gas mass tracers
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: the population of [CII]-undetected galaxies and their role in the ${\mathrm{L}}_{[\mathrm{CII}]}$-SFR relation
• Atomic and molecular gas as traced by [C II] emission
• Measuring the average molecular gas content of star-forming galaxies at $z=3-4$
• High resolution spectral imaging of CO(7-6), [CI](2-1) and continuum of three high-z lensed dusty star-forming galaxies using ALMA
• Dynamical modelling and origin of gas turbulence in z $\sim$ 4.5 galaxies
• The ALMA-CRISTAL survey: Resolved kinematic studies of main sequence star-forming galaxies at 4<z<6
• The [CII] 158 $\mu$m emission line as a gas mass tracer in high redshift quiescent galaxies
• ColdSIM predictions of [C II] emission in primordial galaxies
• Big Three Dragons: Molecular Gas in a Bright Lyman-Break Galaxy at $z=7.15$
• The ALMA-ALPINE [CII] survey: sub-kpc morphology of 3 main-sequence galaxy systems at z~4.5 revealed by ALMA
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: Dust emission effective radius up to 3 kpc in the Early Universe
• Synergizing 21 cm and sub-millimetre surveys during reionization: new empirical insights
• A [C II] 158$\mu$m Emitter Associated with an OI Absorber at the End of the Reionization Epoch
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey: double stellar population and AGN activity in a galaxy at $z\sim 5.5$
• Feedback and dynamical masses in high-$z$ galaxies: the advent of high-resolution NIRSpec spectroscopy
• Joint Survey Processing I: Compact oddballs in the COSMOS field -- low-luminosity Quasars at z > 6?
• ALMA Lensing Cluster Survey: A spectral stacking analysis of [CII] in lensed $z\sim 6$ galaxies
• JWST + ALMA ubiquitously discover companion systems within $\lesssim 18$kpc around four $z$$\approx$3.5 luminous radio-loud AGN
• Spatially resolved [CII]-gas conversion factor in early galaxies
• COSMOS2020: Investigating the AGN-obscured accretion phase at $z\sim 1$ via [NeV] selection
• The ALMA-CRISTAL survey: Extended [CII] emission in an interacting galaxy system at z ~ 5.5
• Ionized Carbon in Galaxies: The [C II] 158 $\mu$m Line as a Total Molecular Gas Mass Tracer Revisited
• ALMA Observations for CO Emission from Luminous Lyman-break Galaxies at $z=6.0293$-$6.2037$
• ALPINE: A Large Survey to Understand Teenage Galaxies
• The [C II] line emission as an interstellar medium probe in the MARIGOLD galaxies
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: Modelling ALMA and JWST lines to constrain the interstellar medium of $z\sim 5$ galaxies
• ALMACAL XIII. Evolution of the CO luminosity function and the molecular gas mass density out to $z$ ~ 6
• Anatomy of galactic star formation history: Roles of different modes of gas accretion, feedback, and recycling
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: Unveiling the baryon evolution in the ISM of $z\sim 5$ star-forming galaxies
• Unveiling dust, molecular gas, and high star formation efficiency in extremely UV bright star-forming galaxies at $z\sim 2.1-3.6$
• The ALPINE-CRISTAL-JWST survey: spatially resolved star formation relations at $z\sim 5$
• Measuring the gas reservoirs in $10^8<$ M${}_{\star }<10^{11}$ M${}_{\odot }$ galaxies at $1\le z\le 3$
• Bright [CII]158$\mu$m Streamers as a Beacon for Giant Galaxy Formation in SPT2349$-$56 at $z=4.3$
• The early Universe with JWST and ALMA
• Early galaxy evolution: The complex interstellar medium distribution of the z~7 galaxy A1689-zD1
• Measuring the HI content of individual galaxies out to the epoch of reionization with [CII]
• Gas-Poor Hosts and Gas-Rich Companions of $z\approx$3.5 Radio Active Galactic Nuclei: ALMA Insights into Jet Triggering and Feedback
• Direct detection of cool molecular gas in a star-forming galaxy at $z=7.31$
• Multiphase images of a powerful supernova-driven wind in the early Universe
• The Baryon Budget of Galaxies across the First Billion Years
• HI and H${}_2$ gas evolution over cosmic times: ColdSIM
• A nuclear disc at Cosmic Noon: evidence of early bar-driven galaxy evolution
• The ALMA View of High-Redshift Galaxy Formation