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We analysed the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) far-infrared (FIR), 1.3 mm, dust continuum and CO emission of 12 starburst galaxies at z ∼ 2.1 − 3.6 selected for their extreme brightness in the rest-frame UV, with absolute magnitudes of −23.4 to −24.7. We also analysed their Very Large Telescope (VLT) High Acuity Wide field K-band Imager (HAWK-I) H- and Ks-band images. The targeted galaxies are characterised by negligible dust attenuations with blue UV spectral slopes (−2.62 to −1.84), very young stellar populations of ∼10 Myr, and powerful starbursts with a high mean specific star-formation rate of 112 Gyr−1, placing them ∼1.5 dex above the main sequence at similar redshifts and stellar masses (Mstars ∼ (1.5 − 4.6)×109 M⊙). The FIR dust continuum emission revealed in nine galaxies gives IR luminosities of (5.9 − 28.3)×1011 L⊙, with six galaxies remaining dominated by unobscured UV star-formation rates, and high dust masses barely produced by supernovae within the 10 Myr timescale. The CO emission detected in eight galaxies leads to molecular gas masses higher than stellar masses, with the mean molecular gas mass fraction as high as 82%. The corresponding star-formation efficiencies reach ≳40%, with amazingly short molecular gas depletion timescales between less than 13 Myr and 71 Myr. These unique properties never reported in previously studied galaxies highlight that these galaxies are likely caught at the very beginning of their stellar mass build-up and undergo a very efficient and fast conversion of gas into stars that can only result from the gas collapse within a very short free-fall time. We find that the feedback-free starburst model seems to be able to explain the formation of these galaxies. To reconcile the co-spatial FIR dust emission with the UV-bright unattenuated emission, we speculate about the presence of radiation-driven outflows that can temporarily remove dust at the location of the starburst and expel it at large distances in line with the measured high FIR effective radii (1.7 kpc to 5 kpc) in comparison to the very compact stellar radii of a few hundred parsecs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our current understanding of the cosmic star formation history at z > 3 is primarily based on UV-selected galaxies (Lyman-break galaxies, i.e., LBGs). Recent studies of H-dropouts (HST-dark galaxies) have revealed that we may be missing a large proportion of star formation that is taking place in massive galaxies at z > 3. In this work, we extend the H-dropout criterion to lower masses to select optically dark or faint galaxies (OFGs) at high redshifts in order to complete the census between LBGs and H-dropouts. Our criterion (H > 26:5 mag & [4.5] < 25 mag) combined with a de-blending technique is designed to select not only extremely dust-obscured massive galaxies but also normal star-forming galaxies (typically E(B V) > 0:4) with lower stellar masses at high redshifts. In addition, with this criterion, our sample is not contaminated by massive passive or old galaxies. In total, we identified 27 OFGs at zphot > 3 (with a median of zmed = 4:1) in the GOODS-ALMA field, covering a wide distribution of stellar masses with log(MM) = 9:411:1 (with a median of log(Med/M) = 10.3). We find that up to 75% of the OFGs with log(M/M) = 9:510:5 were neglected by previous LBGs and H-dropout selection techniques. After performing an optical-to-millimeter stacking analysis of the OFGs, we find that rather than being limited to a rare population of extreme starbursts, these OFGs represent a normal population of dusty star-forming galaxies at z > 3. The OFGs exhibit shorter gas depletion timescales, slightly lower gas fractions, and lower dust temperatures than the scaling relation of typical star-forming galaxies. Additionally, the total star formation rate (SFRtot = SFRIR + SFRUV) of the stacked OFGs is much higher than the SFRcorr UV (SFRUV corrected for dust extinction), with an average SFRtot/SFRcorr UV = 8 ± 1, which lies above (~0.3 dex) the 16-84th percentile range of typical star-forming galaxies at 3 z 6. All of the above suggests the presence of hidden dust regions in the OFGs that absorb all UV photons, which cannot be reproduced with dust extinction corrections. The effective radius of the average dust size measured by a circular Gaussian model fit in the uv plane is Re(1:13 mm) = 1:01 ± 0:05 kpc. After excluding the five LBGs in the OFG sample, we investigated their contributions to the cosmic star formation rate density (SFRD). We found that the SFRD at z > 3 contributed by massive OFGs (log(MM) > 10:3) is at least two orders of magnitude higher than the one contributed by equivalently massive LBGs. Finally, we calculated the combined contribution of OFGs and LBGs to the cosmic SFRD at z = 45 to be 4 102 M yr1 Mpc3, which is about 0.15 dex (43%) higher than the SFRD derived from UV-selected samples alone at the same redshift. This value could be even larger, as our calculations were performed in a very conservative way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]