Studying the first galaxies with ALMA

Abstract

We discuss observations of the first galaxies, within cosmic reionization, at centimeter and millimeter wavelengths. We present a summary of current observations of the host galaxies of the most distant QSOs ($z\sim 6$). These observations reveal the gas, dust, and star formation in the host galaxies on kpc-scales. These data imply an enriched ISM in the QSO host galaxies within 1 Gyr of the big bang, and are consistent with models of coeval supermassive black hole and spheroidal galaxy formation in major mergers at high redshift. Current instruments are limited to studying truly pathologic objects at these redshifts, meaning hyper-luminous infrared galaxies ($L_{FIR}\sim 10^{13}$ L${}_{\odot }$). ALMA will provide the one to two orders of magnitude improvement in millimeter astronomy required to study normal star forming galaxies (ie. Ly-$\alpha$ emitters) at $z\sim 6$. ALMA will reveal, at sub-kpc spatial resolution, the thermal gas and dust -- the fundamental fuel for star formation -- in galaxies into cosmic reionization.

to appear in Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics}, ed. R. Bachiller (Springer: Berlin); 5 pages, 7 figures

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• The Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies Survey: Constraints on the Bright End of the z~8 Luminosity Function
• Observing Neutral Hydrogen Above Redshift 6: The "Global" Perspective
• Probing the First Stars and Black Holes in the Early Universe with the Dark Ages Radio Explorer (DARE)
• Molecules in galaxies
• Assessing the redshift evolution of massive black holes and their hosts
• Evidence for Low Extinction in Actively Star Forming Galaxies at z$>$6.5
• Molecular Cloud Properties and CO Line Emission in z >~ 6 Galaxies
• Infrared Properties of z=7 Galaxies from Cosmological Simulations