ALMA Lensing Cluster Survey: Dust mass measurements as a function of redshift, stellar mass, and star formation rate from z=1 to z=5

Context. Understanding the dust content of galaxies, its evolution with redshift and its relation to stars and star formation is fundamental for our understanding of galaxy evolution. Dust acts as a catalyst of star formation and as a shield for star light. Advanced millimeter facilities like ALMA have made dust observation ever more accessible, even at high redshift. However, dust emission is typically very faint, making the use of stacking techniques is instrumental in the study of dust in statistically sound samples. Aims. Using the ALMA Lensing Cluster Survey (ALCS) wide-area band-6 continuum dataset (similar to 110 arcmin(2) across 33 lensing clusters), we constrain the dust-mass evolution with redshift, stellar mass, and star formation rate (SFR). Methods. After binning sources according to redshift, SFR, and stellar mass as extracted from an HST-IRAC catalog, we performed a set of continuum-stacking analyses in the image domain using LINESTACKER on sources between z = 1 and z = 5, which further improved the depth of our data. The large field of view provided by the ALCS allowed us to reach a final sample of similar to 4000 galaxies with known coordinates and SED-derived physical parameters. We stacked sources with an SFR between 10(-3) and 10(3) M-circle dot per year and a stellar mass between 10(8) and 10(12) M-circle dot, and we split them into different stellar mass and SFR bins. Through stacking, we retrieved the continuum 1.2 mm flux, which is a known dust-mass tracer. This allowed us to derive the dust-mass evolution with redshift and its relation to the SFR and stellar mass. Results. We clearly detect the continuum in most of the subsamples. From the nondetections, we derive 3 sigma upper limits. We observe a steady decline in the average dust mass with redshift. Moreover, sources with a higher stellar mass or SFR have a higher dust mass on average. This allows us to derive scaling relations. Our results mostly agree well with models at z similar to 1-3, but they indicate a typically lower dust mass than predicted at higher redshift.