We present an ALMA study of the ∼180 brightest sources in the SCUBA-2 850-μm map of the COSMOS field from the S2COSMOS survey, as a pilot study for AS2COSMOS – a full survey of the ∼1000 sources in this field. In this pilot study, we have obtained 870-μm continuum maps of an essentially complete sample of the brightest 182 sub-millimetre sources ($S_{850\, \mu \rm m}\gt $ 6.2 mJy) in COSMOS. Our ALMA maps detect 260 sub-millimetre galaxies (SMGs) spanning a range in flux density of $S_{870\, \mu \rm m}$ = 0.7–19.2 mJy. We detect more than one SMG counterpart in 34 ± 2 per cent of sub-millimetre sources, increasing to 53 ± 8 per cent for SCUBA-2 sources brighter than $S_{850\, \mu \rm m}\gt $ 12 mJy. We estimate that approximately one-third of these SMG–SMG pairs are physically associated (with a higher rate for the brighter secondary SMGs, $S_{870\, \mu \rm m}\gtrsim$ 3 mJy), and illustrate this with the serendipitous detection of bright [C ii] 157.74-μm line emission in two SMGs, AS2COS 0001.1 and 0001.2 at z = 4.63, associated with the highest significance single-dish source. Using our source catalogue, we construct the interferometric 870-μm number counts at $S_{870\, \mu \rm m}\gt $ 6.2 mJy. We use the extensive archival data of this field to construct the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution of each AS2COSMOS SMG, and subsequently model this emission with magphys to estimate their photometric redshifts. We find a median photometric redshift for the $S_{870\, \mu \rm m}\gt $ 6.2 mJy AS2COSMOS sample of z = 2.87 ± 0.08, and clear evidence for an increase in the median redshift with 870-μm flux density suggesting strong evolution in the bright end of the 870-μm luminosity function.

We present the characteristics of 2 mm selected sources from the largest Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) blank-field contiguous survey conducted to date, the Mapping Obscuration to Reionization with ALMA (MORA) survey covering 184 arcmin2 at 2 mm. Twelve of 13 detections above 5σ are attributed to emission from galaxies, 11 of which are dominated by cold dust emission. These sources have a median redshift of 〈 z 2 mm 〉 = 3.6 − 0.3 + 0.4 primarily based on optical/near-infrared photometric redshifts with some spectroscopic redshifts, with 77% ± 11% of sources at z > 3 and 38% ± 12% of sources at z > 4. This implies that 2 mm selection is an efficient method for identifying the highest-redshift dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). Lower-redshift DSFGs (z < 3) are far more numerous than those at z > 3 yet are likely to drop out at 2 mm. MORA shows that DSFGs with star formation rates in excess of 300 M ⊙ yr−1 and a relative rarity of ∼10−5 Mpc−3 contribute ∼30% to the integrated star formation rate density at 3 < z < 6. The volume density of 2 mm selected DSFGs is consistent with predictions from some cosmological simulations and is similar to the volume density of their hypothesized descendants: massive, quiescent galaxies at z > 2. Analysis of MORA sources’ spectral energy distributions hint at steeper empirically measured dust emissivity indices than reported in typical literature studies, with 〈 β 〉 = 2.2 − 0.4 + 0.5 . The MORA survey represents an important step in taking census of obscured star formation in the universe’s first few billion years, but larger area 2 mm surveys are needed to more fully characterize this rare population and push to the detection of the universe’s first dusty galaxies.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered a surprising abundance of bright galaxy candidates in the very early Universe (≤500 Myrs after the Big Bang), calling into question current galaxy formation models. Spectroscopy is needed to confirm the primeval nature of these candidates, as well as to understand how the first galaxies form stars and grow. Here we present deep spectroscopic and continuum ALMA observations towards GHZ2/GLASS-z12, one of the brightest and most robust candidates at z &gt; 10 identified in the GLASS-JWST Early Release Science Program. We detect a 5.8σ line, offset 0.″5 from the JWST position of GHZ2/GLASS-z12 that, associating it with the [O iii] 88 $\mu {\rm m}$ transition, implies a spectroscopic redshift of z = 12.117 ± 0.001. We verify the detection using extensive statistical tests. The oxygen line luminosity places GHZ2/GLASS-z12 above the [O iii]-SFR relation for metal-poor galaxies, implying an enhancement of [O iii] emission in this system while the JWST-observed emission is likely a lower-metallicity region. The lack of dust emission seen by these observations is consistent with the blue UV slope observed by JWST, which suggest little dust attenuation in galaxies at this early epoch. Further observations will unambiguously confirm the redshift and shed light on the origins of the wide and offset line and physical properties of this early galaxy. This work illustrates the synergy between JWST and ALMA and paves the way for future spectroscopic surveys of z &gt; 10 galaxy candidates.