The ALMA-CRISTAL survey: Gas, dust, and stars in star-forming galaxies when the Universe was ∼1 Gyr old

We present the ALMA-CRISTAL survey, an ALMA Cycle 8 Large Program designed to investigate the physical properties of star-forming galaxies at 4 ≲ z ≲ 6 through spatially resolved, multiwavelength observations. This survey targets 19 star-forming main-sequence galaxies selected from the ALPINE survey, using ALMA Band 7 observations to study [C II ] 158 μm line emission and dust continuum, complemented by JWST/NIRCam and HST imaging to map stellar and UV emission. The CRISTAL sample expanded to 39 after including newly detected galaxies in the CRISTAL fields, archival data, and pilot study targets. The resulting dataset provides a detailed view of gas, dust, and stellar structures on kiloparsec scales at the end of the era of reionization. The survey reveals diverse morphologies and kinematics, including rotating disks, merging systems, [C II ] emission tails from potential interactions, and clumpy star formation. Notably, the [C II ] emission in many cases extends beyond the stellar light seen in HST and JWST imaging. Scientific highlights include CRISTAL-10, exhibiting an extreme [C II ] deficit similar to Arp 220, and CRISTAL-13, where feedback from young star-forming clumps likely causes an offset between the stellar clumps and the peaks of [C II ] emission. CRISTAL galaxies exhibit global [C II ]/FIR ratios that decrease with increasing FIR luminosity, similar to trends seen in local galaxies but shifted to higher luminosities, likely due to their higher molecular gas content. CRISTAL galaxies also span a previously unexplored range of global FIR surface brightness at high-redshift, showing that high-redshift galaxies can have elevated [C II ]/FIR ratios. These elevated ratios are likely influenced by factors such as lower-metallicity gas, the presence of significant extraplanar gas, and contributions from shock-excited gas.

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Publication Details

Journal
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Published
2025-05-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202553896
Citations
15
Primary Topic
Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
17.88
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article

The ALMA-CRISTAL survey: Gas, dust, and stars in star-forming galaxies when the Universe was ∼1 Gyr old

E. da Cunha, I. de Looze, Yunguo Li, S. A. van der Giessen et al.
15 citations
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
17.88
article

The ALMA-CRISTAL survey: Gas, dust, and stars in star-forming galaxies when the Universe was ∼1 Gyr old

E. da Cunha, I. de Looze, Yunguo Li, S. A. van der Giessen, M. Relaño, R. Smit, Jacqueline Hodge, S. Bovino, Thorsten Naab, G. Calistro Rivera, A. Posses, Jorge González-López, Roberto J. Assef, R. Davies, R. Genzel, Marco Palla, Vicente Villanueva, D. Liu, Rodrigo Herrera-Camus, H. Übler, L. Tacconi, David B. Fisher, Ikki Mitsuhashi, K. Telikova, Jack E. Birkin, D. Lutz, Andrea Ferrara, Desika Narayanan, Manuel Solimano, Alberto D. Bolatto, Justin Spilker, L. Lee, S. Veilleux, R. L. Davies, Meghana Killi, A. Sternberg, R. A. A. Bowler, Ryota Ikeda, K. Tadaki, Manuel Aravena, Juno Li, Sedona H. Price, R. Bouwens, T. Díaz-Santos, M. Baeza-Garay, N. Förster Schreiber, Loreto Barcos-Muñoz
article en
15 citations

Abstract

We present the ALMA-CRISTAL survey, an ALMA Cycle 8 Large Program designed to investigate the physical properties of star-forming galaxies at 4 ≲ z ≲ 6 through spatially resolved, multiwavelength observations. This survey targets 19 star-forming main-sequence galaxies selected from the ALPINE survey, using ALMA Band 7 observations to study [C II ] 158 μm line emission and dust continuum, complemented by JWST/NIRCam and HST imaging to map stellar and UV emission. The CRISTAL sample expanded to 39 after including newly detected galaxies in the CRISTAL fields, archival data, and pilot study targets. The resulting dataset provides a detailed view of gas, dust, and stellar structures on kiloparsec scales at the end of the era of reionization. The survey reveals diverse morphologies and kinematics, including rotating disks, merging systems, [C II ] emission tails from potential interactions, and clumpy star formation. Notably, the [C II ] emission in many cases extends beyond the stellar light seen in HST and JWST imaging. Scientific highlights include CRISTAL-10, exhibiting an extreme [C II ] deficit similar to Arp 220, and CRISTAL-13, where feedback from young star-forming clumps likely causes an offset between the stellar clumps and the peaks of [C II ] emission. CRISTAL galaxies exhibit global [C II ]/FIR ratios that decrease with increasing FIR luminosity, similar to trends seen in local galaxies but shifted to higher luminosities, likely due to their higher molecular gas content. CRISTAL galaxies also span a previously unexplored range of global FIR surface brightness at high-redshift, showing that high-redshift galaxies can have elevated [C II ]/FIR ratios. These elevated ratios are likely influenced by factors such as lower-metallicity gas, the presence of significant extraplanar gas, and contributions from shock-excited gas.

Astronomy and AstrophysicsVol. 699
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Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
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