ALMA Chemical Evolution (ACE) survey: the dust content of subsolar metallicity galaxies at cosmic noon
Abstract
Dust plays a key role in galaxy evolution by influencing star formation and shaping the observed spectrum of galaxies. However, at z~2 (cosmic noon) our knowledge of the dust mass budget is currently limited to the most massive, metal-rich systems, which are not representative of the bulk galaxy population. Here, we probe the lower mass, subsolar metallicity regime by measuring the dust mass of 25 galaxies at z~2.3 from the ALMA Chemical Evolution (ACE) Large Program. The sample contains star-forming galaxies in the COSMOS field with robust strong-line metallicities down to ~0.3 Z⊙. Using the dust continuum emission detected at 873micron or 1.3mm we constrain the dust mass by assuming an optically thin single-temperature modified blackbody. The resulting dust masses average 108 M⊙, and they are three to nine times larger than those of z=0 galaxies at a matched metallicity and stellar mass. We also find positive correlations between dust mass and stellar mass, metallicity, and star formation rate (SFR). In contrast, we find that the Mdust/Mstars (DtS) ratio scatters around 10−2.2 but shows no evidence of correlation with metallicity. This result is consistent with dust evolution models that predict a constant DtS once the ISM reaches the critical metallicity, at which metal accretion onto grains becomes the main mode of dust buildup. The correlation between Mdust/SFR and metallicity also suggest that ACE galaxies have already surpassed the critical metallicity. Finally, we find that the DtS ratio is correlated to the specific SFR (sSFR). Since the sSFR are high (> 10−8 yr−1) this explains the DtS excess over z~0 galaxies. In turn, both sSFR and DtS are likely driven by the molecular gas fraction, as supported by CO(3-2) measurements taken as part of ACE.
Related
- ALMA Chemical Evolution (ACE) Survey: Molecular gas properties of low-mass, low-metallicity galaxies at cosmic noon
- ALMA Chemical Evolution (ACE) survey: dust-to-gas ratios in sub-solar metallicity galaxies at cosmic noon
- JADES: the mass-metallicity relation at z=1−10. New calibrations, extremely metal-poor galaxies, and chemical diversity
- Constraints on the Metallicity-dependent Explodability of Massive Stars from Galactic Chemical Evolution: Toward Alleviating the Red Supergiant Problem
- ALMA Chemical Evolution (ACE) survey: The gas fundamental metallicity relation at cosmic noon
BibTeX
@misc{solimano2026alma,
title = {{ALMA Chemical Evolution (ACE) survey: the dust content of subsolar metallicity galaxies at cosmic noon}},
author = {M. Solimano and I. Shivaei and G. Popping and L. A. Boogaard and I. Langan and R. Popescu and N. N. Geesink and A. Pope and L. Arriscado and B. Mobasher and D. Narayanan and M. Parente and N. Reddy and R. Sanders},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.21040},
eprint = {2609.21040},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.21040},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - ALMA Chemical Evolution (ACE) survey: the dust content of subsolar metallicity galaxies at cosmic noon
AU - M. Solimano
AU - I. Shivaei
AU - G. Popping
AU - L. A. Boogaard
AU - I. Langan
AU - R. Popescu
AU - N. N. Geesink
AU - A. Pope
AU - L. Arriscado
AU - B. Mobasher
AU - D. Narayanan
AU - M. Parente
AU - N. Reddy
AU - R. Sanders
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/17
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.21040
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.21040
AB - Dust plays a key role in galaxy evolution by influencing star formation and shaping the observed spectrum of galaxies. However, at z~2 (cosmic noon) our knowledge of the dust mass budget is currently limited to the most massive, metal-rich systems, which are not representative of the bulk galaxy population. Here, we probe the lower mass, subsolar metallicity regime by measuring the dust mass of 25 galaxies at z~2.3 from the ALMA Chemical Evolution (ACE) Large Program. The sample contains star-forming galaxies in the COSMOS field with robust strong-line metallicities down to ~0.3 Z_⊙. Using the dust continuum emission detected at 873micron or 1.3mm we constrain the dust mass by assuming an optically thin single-temperature modified blackbody. The resulting dust masses average 10^8 M_⊙, and they are three to nine times larger than those of z=0 galaxies at a matched metallicity and stellar mass. We also find positive correlations between dust mass and stellar mass, metallicity, and star formation rate (SFR). In contrast, we find that the M_dust/M_stars (DtS) ratio scatters around 10^−2.2 but shows no evidence of correlation with metallicity. This result is consistent with dust evolution models that predict a constant DtS once the ISM reaches the critical metallicity, at which metal accretion onto grains becomes the main mode of dust buildup. The correlation between M_dust/SFR and metallicity also suggest that ACE galaxies have already surpassed the critical metallicity. Finally, we find that the DtS ratio is correlated to the specific SFR (sSFR). Since the sSFR are high (> 10^−8 yr^−1) this explains the DtS excess over z~0 galaxies. In turn, both sSFR and DtS are likely driven by the molecular gas fraction, as supported by CO(3-2) measurements taken as part of ACE.
ER -