The H${}_2$ density within spiral and irregular galaxies at high redshift: estimating CO detection limits

Abstract

We have computed a grid of chemical evolution models for a large set of spiral and irregular theoretical galaxies of different total mass. In our models, the gas phase has two components, the diffuse and the molecular one (${\mathrm{H}}_2$). It is possible, therefore, to follow the time (or redshift) evolution of the expected density of the ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ phase. We will show the predictions of this gas density at hight redshift, which might be detected with ALMA, in this type of galaxies.

arXiv comment4 pages, 4 figures, contribution to the conference {\sl Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics}