We present ALMA Band 9 observations of the C II158 μm emission for a sample of 10 main-sequence galaxies at redshift z ˜ 2, with typical stellar masses (log M⋆/M⊙ ˜ 10.0-10.9) and star formation ...rates (˜35-115 M⊙ yr-1). Given the strong and well-understood evolution of the interstellar medium from the present to z = 2, we investigate the behaviour of the C II emission and empirically identify its primary driver. We detect C II from six galaxies (four secure and two tentative) and estimate ensemble averages including non-detections. The C II-to-infrared luminosity ratio (C II/LIR) of our sample is similar to that of local main-sequence galaxies (˜2 × 10-3), and ˜10 times higher than that of starbursts. The C II emission has an average spatial extent of 4-7 kpc, consistent with the optical size. Complementing our sample with literature data, we find that the C II luminosity correlates with galaxies' molecular gas mass, with a mean absolute deviation of 0.2 dex and without evident systematics: the C II-to-H2 conversion factor (α _C II ˜ 30 M⊙/L⊙) is largely independent of galaxies' depletion time, metallicity, and redshift. C II seems therefore a convenient tracer to estimate galaxies' molecular gas content regardless of their starburst or main-sequence nature, and extending to metal-poor galaxies at low and high redshifts. The dearth of C II emission reported for z > 6-7 galaxies might suggest either a high star formation efficiency or a small fraction of ultraviolet light from star formation reprocessed by dust.
We present new measurements of the cosmic cold molecular gas evolution out to redshift 6 based on systematic mining of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) public archive in the ...COSMOS deep field (A3COSMOS). Our A3COSMOS data set contains ∼700 galaxies (0.3 z 6) with high-confidence ALMA detections in the (sub)millimeter continuum and multiwavelength spectral energy distributions. Multiple gas mass calibration methods are compared, and biases in band conversions (from observed ALMA wavelength to rest-frame Rayleigh-Jeans tail continuum) have been tested. Combining our A3COSMOS sample with ∼1000 CO-observed galaxies at 0 z 4 (75% at z < 0.1), we parameterize galaxies' molecular gas depletion time ( ) and molecular gas to stellar mass ratio ( ) each as a function of the stellar mass ( ), offset from the star-forming main sequence ( ) and cosmic age (or redshift). Our proposed functional form provides a statistically better fit to current data (than functional forms in the literature) and implies a "downsizing" effect (i.e., more-massive galaxies evolve earlier than less-massive ones) and "mass quenching" (gas consumption slows down with cosmic time for massive galaxies but speeds up for low-mass ones). Adopting galaxy stellar mass functions and applying our function for gas mass calculation, we for the first time infer the cosmic cold molecular gas density evolution out to redshift 6 and find agreement with CO blind surveys as well as semianalytic modeling. These together provide a coherent picture of cold molecular gas, star formation rate, and stellar mass evolution in galaxies across cosmic time.
Abstract
We present the first results from the Mapping Obscuration to Reionization with ALMA (MORA) survey, the largest Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) blank-field contiguous ...survey to date (184 arcmin
2
) and the only at 2 mm to search for dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). We use the 13 sources detected above 5
σ
to estimate the first ALMA galaxy number counts at this wavelength. These number counts are then combined with the state-of-the-art galaxy number counts at 1.2 and 3 mm and with a backward evolution model to place constraints on the evolution of the IR luminosity function and dust-obscured star formation in the past 13 billion years. Our results suggest a steep redshift evolution on the space density of DSFGs and confirm the flattening of the IR luminosity function at faint luminosities, with a slope of
. We conclude that the dust-obscured component, which peaks at
z
≈ 2–2.5, has dominated the cosmic history of star formation for the past ∼12 billion years, back to
z
∼ 4. At
z
= 5, the dust-obscured star formation is estimated to be ∼35% of the total star formation rate density and decreases to 25%–20% at
z
= 6–7, implying a minor contribution of dust-enshrouded star formation in the first billion years of the universe. With the dust-obscured star formation history constrained up to the end of the epoch of reionization, our results provide a benchmark to test galaxy formation models, to study the galaxy mass assembly history, and to understand the dust and metal enrichment of the universe at early times.
We test the use of long-wavelength dust continuum emission as a molecular gas tracer at high redshift, via a unique sample of a dozen z ∼ 2 galaxies with observations of both the dust continuum and ...CO(1−0) line emission (obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array and Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, respectively). Our work is motivated by recent high-redshift studies that measure molecular gas masses ( ) via a calibration of the rest-frame 850 m luminosity ( ) against the CO(1−0)-derived of star-forming galaxies. We therefore test whether this method is valid for the types of high-redshift, star-forming galaxies to which it has been applied. We recover a clear correlation between the rest-frame 850 m luminosity, inferred from the single-band, long-wavelength flux, and the CO(1−0) line luminosity, consistent with the samples used to perform the 850 m calibration. The molecular gas masses, derived from , agree to within a factor of two with those derived from CO(1−0). We show that this factor of two uncertainty can arise from the values of the dust emissivity index and temperature that need to be assumed in order to extrapolate from the observed frequency to the rest-frame at 850 m. The extrapolation to 850 m therefore has a smaller effect on the accuracy of derived via single-band dust-continuum observations than the assumed CO(1−0)-to- conversion factor. We therefore conclude that single-band observations of long-wavelength dust emission can be used to reliably constrain the molecular gas masses of massive, star-forming galaxies at z 2.
ABSTRACT We present an analysis of a deep (1 = 13 Jy) cosmological 1.2 mm continuum map based on ASPECS, the ALMA Spectroscopic Survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. In the 1 arcmin2 covered by ...ASPECS we detect nine sources at significance at 1.2 mm. Our ALMA-selected sample has a median redshift of , with only one galaxy detected at z > 2 within the survey area. This value is significantly lower than that found in millimeter samples selected at a higher flux density cutoff and similar frequencies. Most galaxies have specific star formation rates (SFRs) similar to that of main-sequence galaxies at the same epoch, and we find median values of stellar mass and SFRs of and yr−1, respectively. Using the dust emission as a tracer for the interstellar medium (ISM) mass, we derive depletion times that are typically longer than 300 Myr, and we find molecular gas fractions ranging from ∼0.1 to 1.0. As noted by previous studies, these values are lower than those using CO-based ISM estimates by a factor of ∼2. The 1 mm number counts (corrected for fidelity and completeness) are in agreement with previous studies that were typically restricted to brighter sources. With our individual detections only, we recover 55% 4% of the extragalactic background light (EBL) at 1.2 mm measured by the Planck satellite, and we recover 80% 7% of this EBL if we include the bright end of the number counts and additional detections from stacking. The stacked contribution is dominated by galaxies at , with stellar masses of (1-3) × 1010 M . For the first time, we are able to characterize the population of galaxies that dominate the EBL at 1.2 mm.
ABSTRACT We present a search for C ii line and dust continuum emission from optical dropout galaxies at z > 6 using ASPECS, our Atacama Large Millimeter submillimeter Array Spectroscopic Survey in ...the Hubble Ultra-deep Field (UDF). Our observations, which cover the frequency range of 212-272 GHz, encompass approximately the range of 6 < z < 8 for C ii line emission and reach a limiting luminosity of LC ii ∼ (1.6-2.5) × 108 L . We identify 14 C ii line emitting candidates in this redshift range with significances >4.5 , two of which correspond to blind detections with no optical counterparts. At this significance level, our statistical analysis shows that about 60% of our candidates are expected to be spurious. For one of our blindly selected C ii line candidates, we tentatively detect the CO(6-5) line in our parallel 3 mm line scan. None of the line candidates are individually detected in the 1.2 mm continuum. A stack of all C ii candidates results in a tentative detection with S1.2 mm = 14 5 Jy. This implies a dust-obscured star-formation rate (SFR) of (3 1) M yr−1. We find that the two highest-SFR objects have candidate C ii lines with luminosities that are consistent with the low-redshift LC ii versus SFR relation. The other candidates have significantly higher C ii luminosities than expected from their UV-based SFR. At the current sensitivity, it is unclear whether the majority of these sources are intrinsically bright C ii emitters, or spurious sources. If only one of our line candidates was real (a scenario greatly favored by our statistical analysis), we find a source density for C ii emitters at 6 < z < 8 that is significantly higher than predicted by current models and some extrapolations from galaxies in the local universe.
Abstract
We investigate the fine-structure C
ii
line at 158
μ
m as a molecular gas tracer by analyzing the relationship between molecular gas mass (
M
mol
) and C
ii
line luminosity (
L
C
II
) in ...11,125
z
≃ 6 star-forming, main-sequence galaxies from the
simba
simulations, with line emission modeled by the Simulator of Galaxy Millimeter/Submillimeter Emission. Though most (∼50%–100%) of the gas mass in our simulations is ionized, the bulk (>50%) of the C
ii
emission comes from the molecular phase. We find a sublinear (slope 0.78 ± 0.01)
log
L
C
II
–
log
M
mol
relation, in contrast with the linear relation derived from observational samples of more massive, metal-rich galaxies at
z
≲ 6. We derive a median C
ii
-to-
M
mol
conversion factor of
α
C
II
≃ 18
M
⊙
/
L
⊙
. This is lower than the average value of ≃30
M
⊙
/
L
⊙
derived from observations, which we attribute to lower gas-phase metallicities in our simulations. Thus, a lower, luminosity-dependent conversion factor must be applied when inferring molecular gas masses from C
ii
observations of low-mass galaxies. For our simulations, C
ii
is a better tracer of the molecular gas than CO
J
= 1–0, especially at the lowest metallicities, where much of the gas is
CO-dark
. We find that
L
C
II
is more tightly correlated with
M
mol
than with star formation rate (SFR), and both the
log
L
C
II
–
log
M
mol
and
log
L
C
II
–
log
SFR
relations arise from the Kennicutt–Schmidt relation. Our findings suggest that
L
C
II
is a promising tracer of the molecular gas at the earliest cosmic epochs.
ABSTRACT We present direct estimates of the mean sky brightness temperature in observing bands around 99 and 242 GHz due to line emission from distant galaxies. These values are calculated from the ...summed line emission observed in a blind, deep survey for spectral line emission from high redshift galaxies using ALMA (the ALMA spectral deep field observations "ASPECS" survey). In the 99 GHz band, the mean brightness will be dominated by rotational transitions of CO from intermediate and high redshift galaxies. In the 242 GHz band, the emission could be a combination of higher order CO lines, and possibly C ii 158 m line emission from very high redshift galaxies (z ∼ 6-7). The mean line surface brightness is a quantity that is relevant to measurements of spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background, and as a potential tool for studying large-scale structures in the early universe using intensity mapping. While the cosmic volume and the number of detections are admittedly small, this pilot survey provides a direct measure of the mean line surface brightness, independent of conversion factors, excitation, or other galaxy formation model assumptions. The mean surface brightness in the 99 GHZ band is: TB = 0.94 0.09 K. In the 242 GHz band, the mean brightness is: TB = 0.55 0.033 K. These should be interpreted as lower limits on the average sky signal, since we only include lines detected individually in the blind survey, while in a low resolution intensity mapping experiment, there will also be the summed contribution from lower luminosity galaxies that cannot be detected individually in the current blind survey.
ABSTRACT
We present the dust mass function (DMF) of 15 750 galaxies with redshift $z$ < 0.1, drawn from the overlapping area of the GAMA and H-ATLAS surveys. The DMF is derived using the density ...corrected Vmax method, where we estimate Vmax using: (i) the normal photometric selection limit (pVmax) and (ii) a bivariate brightness distribution (BBD) technique, which accounts for two selection effects. We fit the data with a Schechter function, and find $M^{*}=(4.65 \pm 0.18)\times 10^{7}\,h^2_{70}\, \mathrm{ M}_{\odot }$, α = (−1.22 ± 0.01), $\phi ^{*}=(6.26 \pm 0.28)\times 10^{-3}\,h^3_{70}\,\rm Mpc^{-3}\,dex^{-1}$. The resulting dust mass density parameter integrated down to 104 M⊙ is Ωd = (1.11 ± 0.02) × 10−6 which implies the mass fraction of baryons in dust is $f_{m_\mathrm{ b}}=(2.40\pm 0.04)\times 10^{-5}$; cosmic variance adds an extra 7–17 per cent uncertainty to the quoted statistical errors. Our measurements have fewer galaxies with high dust mass than predicted by semi-analytic models. This is because the models include too much dust in high stellar mass galaxies. Conversely, our measurements find more galaxies with high dust mass than predicted by hydrodynamical cosmological simulations. This is likely to be from the long time-scales for grain growth assumed in the models. We calculate DMFs split by galaxy type and find dust mass densities of Ωd = (0.88 ± 0.03) × 10−6 and Ωd = (0.060 ± 0.005) × 10−6 for late types and early types, respectively. Comparing to the equivalent galaxy stellar mass functions (GSMF) we find that the DMF for late types is well matched by the GSMF scaled by (8.07 ± 0.35) × 10−4.
We derive the total cold gas, atomic hydrogen, and molecular gas masses of approximately 24 000 galaxies covering four decades in stellar mass at redshifts 0.5 < z < 3.0, taken from the Cosmic ...Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey survey. Our inferences are based on the inversion of a molecular hydrogen based star formation law, coupled with a prescription to separate atomic and molecular gas. We find that: (1) there is an increasing trend between the inferred cold gas (H i and H...), H i, and H... mass and the stellar mass of galaxies down to stellar masses of 10... M... already in place at z = 3; (2) the molecular fractions of cold gas increase with increasing stellar mass and look-back time; (3) there is hardly any evolution in the mean H i content of galaxies at fixed stellar mass; (4) the cold gas fraction and relative amount of molecular hydrogen in galaxies decrease at a relatively constant rate with time, independent of stellar mass; (5) there is a large population of low stellar mass galaxies dominated by atomic gas. These galaxies are very gas rich, but only a minor fraction of their gas is molecular; 6) the ratio between star formation rate (SFR) and inferred total cold gas mass (H i + H...) of galaxies (i.e. star formation efficiency; SFE) increases with star formation at fixed stellar masses. Due to its simplicity, the presented approach is valuable to assess the impact of selection biases on small samples of directly observed gas masses and to extend scaling relations down to stellar mass ranges and redshifts that are currently difficult to probe with direct measurements of gas content. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
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