2020A&A...643A..30F

We investigate the properties of a sample of 35 galaxies, detected with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 1.1mm in the GOODS-ALMA field (area of 69 arcmin², resolution = 0.60'', rms≃0.18mJy/beam). Using the ultraviolet-to-radio deep multiwavelength coverage of the GOODS-South field, we fit the spectral energy distributions of these galaxies to derive their key physical properties. The galaxies detected by ALMA are among the most massive at z=2-4 (M_*,med=8.5x10¹⁰M_☉) and they are either starburst or located in the upper part of the galaxy star-forming main sequence. A significant portion of our galaxy population (∼40%), located at z∼2.5-3, exhibits abnormally low gas fractions. The sizes of these galaxies, measured with ALMA, are compatible with the trend between the rest-frame 5000Å size and stellar mass observed for z∼2 elliptical galaxies, suggesting that they are building compact bulges. We show that there is a strong link between star formation surface density (at 1.1mm) and gas depletion time: The more compact a galaxy's star-forming region is, the shorter its lifetime will be (without gas replenishment). The identified compact sources associated with relatively short depletion timescales (∼100Myr) are the ideal candidates to be the progenitors of compact elliptical galaxies at z∼2.