The interstellar medium content of galaxies in the ALMA era

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent ALMA-based studies on the interstellar medium of high-redshift galaxies, highlighting how ALMA surveys have advanced understanding of galaxy formation and evolution through dust and molecular line observations.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent observational results from ALMA surveys, especially the ASPECS program, on the interstellar medium in distant galaxies.

Findings

ALMA surveys reveal diverse ISM properties in high-redshift galaxies.

Dust continuum and molecular line data inform galaxy growth mechanisms.

ASPECS results contribute to understanding galaxy evolution at z>1.

Abstract

The advent of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has enabled a new era for studies of the formation and assembly of distant galaxies. Cosmological deep field surveys with ALMA and other interferometers have flourished in the last few years covering wide ranges of galaxy properties and redshift, and allowing us to gain critical insights into the physical mechanisms behind the galaxy growth. Here, we present a brief review of recent studies that aim to characterize the interstellar medium properties of galaxies at high redshift ($z>1$), focusing on blank-field ALMA surveys of dust continuum and molecular line emission. In particular, we show recent results from the ALMA Spectroscopic Survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (ASPECS) large program.