We exploit Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) 870 μm observations
of sub-millimetre sources in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South to
investigate the far-infrared properties of high-redshift sub-millimetre
galaxies (SMGs). Using the precisely located 870 μm ALMA positions of
99 SMGs, together with 24μm and radio imaging, we deblend the
Herschel/SPIRE imaging to extract their far-infrared fluxes and colours.
The median redshifts for ALMA LESS (ALESS) SMGs which are detected in at
least two SPIRE bands increases with wavelength of the peak in their
spectral energy distributions (SEDs), with z = 2.3 ± 0.2, 2.5
± 0.3 and 3.5 ± 0.5 for the 250, 350 and 500 μm
peakers, respectively. 34 ALESS SMGs do not have a >3σ
counterpart at 250, 350 or 500 μm. These galaxies have a median
photometric redshift derived from the rest-frame UV-mid-infrared SEDs of
z = 3.3 ± 0.5, which is higher than the full ALESS SMG sample; z
= 2.5 ± 0.2. We estimate the far-infrared luminosities and
characteristic dust temperature of each SMG, deriving LIR =
(3.0 ± 0.3) × 1012 L⊙ (SFR = 300
± 30 M⊙ yr-1) and Td = 32
± 1 K. The characteristic dust temperature of these high-redshift
SMGs is ΔTd = 3-5 K lower than comparably luminous
galaxies at z = 0, reflecting the more extended star formation in these
systems. We show that the contribution of S870 μm ≥ 1
mJy SMGs to the cosmic star formation budget is 20 per cent of the total
over the redshift range z ˜ 1-4. Adopting an appropriate
gas-to-dust ratio, we estimate a typical molecular mass of the ALESS
SMGs of M_H_2 = (4.2 ± 0.4) × 1010
M⊙. Finally, we show that SMGs with S870 μm
> 1 mJy (LIR ≳ 1012 L⊙)
contain ˜ 10 per cent of the z ˜ 2 volume-averaged
H2 mass density.