Dust at cosmic dawn: unveiling the onset of dust and obscured star formation at z≳8
Abstract
Although less than 1 percent of the baryonic mass budget of a galaxy, cosmic dust profoundly alters the multi-wavelength appearance of galaxies across cosmic time. The (sub)millimeter wavelength regime is uniquely capable of weighing these dust reservoirs, and revealing the total extent of galaxy evolution that remains hidden behind them. With current facilities, however, doing so at z > 8 is largely out of reach. ALMA2040, a next-generation (sub)millimeter interferometer, is set to change this. Through an order-of-magnitude increase in sensitivity compared to ALMA, ALMA2040 is a transformational facility that will be able to routinely detect dust emission from galaxies at z > 8 and, through simultaneous multi-band characterization, accurately measure their dust masses, temperatures, and infrared luminosities. Combined with ancillary metallicity measurements -- including from the far-infrared lines detected by ALMA2040 itself -- this will establish the relative roles of supernovae and grain growth in building up dust in the earliest galaxies. Simultaneously, ALMA2040 will measure the fraction of star formation that is obscured by dust at cosmic dawn, and thereby the extent to which rest-UV and optical surveys miss early galaxy build-up. Without a 10× upgrade to ALMA -- comparable to the leap from the VLT to the ELT -- we will not be able to capitalize on the momentous advances enabled by JWST, and will remain blind to the cold and obscured component of galaxy formation in the z > 8 Universe.
Related
- Star Formation and Nebular Attenuation from Paα, Brα, and Brβ in Massive Dust-obscured Galaxies at Cosmic Noon using JWST
- Unveiling the correlation between the UV 2175 Å dust attenuation bump, PAH emission, and gas-phase metallicity at cosmic noon
- Unveiling the correlation between the UV 2175 Å dust attenuation bump, PAH emission, and gas-phase metallicity at cosmic noon
- Catalytic non-energetic formation of diverse peptides on cosmic dust under extraterrestrial conditions
- A Dusty Quenching-candidate AGN host at z=5.7: massive quiescent galaxies may quench already during the dust-obscured phase
BibTeX
@misc{algera2026dust,
title = {{Dust at cosmic dawn: unveiling the onset of dust and obscured star formation at $z\gtrsim8$}},
author = {Hiddo Algera and Tom Bakx and Manuel Aravena and Leindert Boogaard and Karina Caputi and Stefano Carniani and Pierre Cox and Elisabete da Cunha and Miroslava Dessauges-Zavadsky and Tanio Diaz Santos and Andreas Faisst and Andrea Ferrara and Yoshinobu Fudamoto and Carlotta Gruppioni and Mahmoud Hamed and Jacqueline Hodge and Ryota Ikeda and Hanae Inami and Adarsh Kumar and Andrea Lapi and Daizhong Liu and Umberto Maio and Dieu Nguyen and Omima Osman and Andrea Pallottini and Gergö Popping and Francesco Salvestrini and Irene Shivaei and Laura Sommovigo and Justin Spilker and Livia Vallini and Julie Wardlow and Joris Witstok and Mengyuan Xiao},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.21460},
eprint = {2610.21460},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21460},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Dust at cosmic dawn: unveiling the onset of dust and obscured star formation at z≳8
AU - Hiddo Algera
AU - Tom Bakx
AU - Manuel Aravena
AU - Leindert Boogaard
AU - Karina Caputi
AU - Stefano Carniani
AU - Pierre Cox
AU - Elisabete da Cunha
AU - Miroslava Dessauges-Zavadsky
AU - Tanio Diaz Santos
AU - Andreas Faisst
AU - Andrea Ferrara
AU - Yoshinobu Fudamoto
AU - Carlotta Gruppioni
AU - Mahmoud Hamed
AU - Jacqueline Hodge
AU - Ryota Ikeda
AU - Hanae Inami
AU - Adarsh Kumar
AU - Andrea Lapi
AU - Daizhong Liu
AU - Umberto Maio
AU - Dieu Nguyen
AU - Omima Osman
AU - Andrea Pallottini
AU - Gergö Popping
AU - Francesco Salvestrini
AU - Irene Shivaei
AU - Laura Sommovigo
AU - Justin Spilker
AU - Livia Vallini
AU - Julie Wardlow
AU - Joris Witstok
AU - Mengyuan Xiao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.21460
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.21460
AB - Although less than 1 percent of the baryonic mass budget of a galaxy, cosmic dust profoundly alters the multi-wavelength appearance of galaxies across cosmic time. The (sub)millimeter wavelength regime is uniquely capable of weighing these dust reservoirs, and revealing the total extent of galaxy evolution that remains hidden behind them. With current facilities, however, doing so at z > 8 is largely out of reach. ALMA2040, a next-generation (sub)millimeter interferometer, is set to change this. Through an order-of-magnitude increase in sensitivity compared to ALMA, ALMA2040 is a transformational facility that will be able to routinely detect dust emission from galaxies at z > 8 and, through simultaneous multi-band characterization, accurately measure their dust masses, temperatures, and infrared luminosities. Combined with ancillary metallicity measurements -- including from the far-infrared lines detected by ALMA2040 itself -- this will establish the relative roles of supernovae and grain growth in building up dust in the earliest galaxies. Simultaneously, ALMA2040 will measure the fraction of star formation that is obscured by dust at cosmic dawn, and thereby the extent to which rest-UV and optical surveys miss early galaxy build-up. Without a 10× upgrade to ALMA -- comparable to the leap from the VLT to the ELT -- we will not be able to capitalize on the momentous advances enabled by JWST, and will remain blind to the cold and obscured component of galaxy formation in the z > 8 Universe.
ER -