Hints About the Earliest Galaxies

The Cosmic Dawn - the era when the first stars and galaxies formed - is one of the frontiers of extragalactic astrophysics. In this talk, I will describe how surprisingly simple models of galaxy evolution provide insight into the basic processes driving these galaxies (and others) while simultaneously highlighting the many ways in which these early, tiny sources may differ from their descendants and ways in which we may observe their properties. In particular, I will show how measurements of the intergalactic medium already provide important insights into these galaxies. Finally, I will describe how a host of new telescopes, including the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array, will provide insights into this era.

Speaker: Steve Furlanetto, UC Los Angeles