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The Origins of Metal Enrichment in Galaxies at Cosmic Dawn

Objectif

Charting the chemical enrichment of galaxies during the first billion years of the Universe represents one of the cornerstones of modern extragalactic astrophysics. For the first time, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has enabled direct measurements of chemical abundances in galaxies only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, offering unprecedented insight into the origins of the first heavy elements and enabling chemistry as a novel chronometer to trace the emergence and growth of the earliest sources. Early JWST observations have revealed a remarkably diverse and complex primordial Universe, bringing into question long-standing paradigms of early galaxy formation and enrichment. The discovery of anomalous elemental abundances, rapid chemical evolution, and complex ionisation structures is difficult to reconcile with theory and simulations, suggesting unexplored modes of star formation, exotic stellar yields, or the need for new physical frameworks. The main questions are now: how did the first galaxies synthesise heavy elements, what were their enrichment histories, and what do their chemical abundance ratios reveal about the stellar populations that forged them?

The Origins of Metal Enrichment in Galaxies at Cosmic Dawn (OMEGA) is an ambitious observational project designed to uncover how, when, and under what physical conditions galaxies began enriching their interstellar media. Leveraging unprecedented spectroscopic data from approved JWST programmes, together with advanced photoionisation modelling and neural-network techniques, OMEGA will identify the ionisation structures of early galaxies, reveal the physical drivers behind anomalous abundance patterns, and chart the pace of metal build-up across cosmic time. These advances will deliver the first coherent physical picture of chemical enrichment in the aftermath of the Big Bang, setting the foundation for future studies with next-generation facilities such as the Extremely Large Telescope.

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Programme(s)

Thème(s)

Régime de financement

HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Appel à propositions

(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) ERC-2026-STG

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Institution d’accueil

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Contribution nette de l'UE
€ 1 499 998,00
Adresse
GOWER STREET
WC1E 6BT London
Royaume-Uni
Région
London Inner London — West Camden and City of London
Type d’activité
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Liens
Coût total
€ 1 499 998,00

Bénéficiaires (1)