Similarly to the cosmic star formation history , the black hole accretion rate density of the Universe peaked at 1 < z < 3 .
This cosmic epoch is hence best suited for investigating the effects of radiative feedback from AGN .
Observational efforts are underway to quantify the impact of AGN feedback , if any , on their host galaxies .
Here we present a study of the molecular gas content of AGN hosts at z \sim 1.5 using CO [ 2-1 ] line emission observed with ALMA for a sample of 10 AGNs .
We compare this with a sample of galaxies without an AGN matched in redshift , stellar mass , and star formation rate .
We detect CO in 3 AGNs with \mathrm { L _ { CO } \sim 6.3 - 25.1 \times 10 ^ { 9 } L _ { \odot } } which translates to a molecular hydrogen gas mass of \mathrm { 2.5 - 10 \times 10 ^ { 10 } M _ { \odot } } assuming conventional conversion factor of \mathrm { \alpha _ { CO } } \sim 3.6 .
Our results indicate a > 99 % probability of lower depletion time scales and lower molecular gas fractions in AGN hosts with respect to the non-AGN comparison sample .
We discuss the implications of these observations on the impact that AGN feedback may have on star formation efficiency of z > 1 galaxies .