The cold gas supply through cosmic time: insights on the galaxy assembly at early epochs

Abstract

Abstract. Remarkable progress has been made in the last few years in understanding the global properties of galaxies and how they evolve through cosmic time. Major focus has been given to studies of how the availability of molecular gas regulates star-forming activity and galaxy growth, the eventual quenching of star formation, and how these mechanisms evolve through cosmic time. Most of these advances have been made thanks to ALMA and the upgraded capabilities of NOEMA. In this contribution, I briey review the latest constraints on the molecular gas content based on dierent tracers of the interstellar medium (ISM; dust continuum and CO, [CI] and [CII] line emission), including recent determinations of the molecular gas fraction, gas depletion timescales, and molecular gas cosmic density provided by the recent ALMA programs out to z ∼ 7. Finally, I concentrate on recent and ongoing studies aiming to spatially and kinematically resolve the cold ISM and star formation activity down to kpc scales in galaxies out to z ∼ 6 – 7, which represent an unprecedented view of the galaxy assembly and feedback processes in the early universe.