The Emergence of Structure during the Epoch of Reionization

Ziel

Early on the Universe consisted of a near-uniform mixture of hydrogen, helium, dark matter and radiation. The emergence of structure from a stochastic background of fluctuations in the
period between 400.000 years and 1 billion years is the main subject of this proposal. This era saw the formation of the first autonomous sources of radiation, stars and black holes. This `renaissance' of light led to the heating, reionization and pollution of the Intergalactic Medium with metals.

We will unravel how the hydrogen in Universe progressed from substantially neutral to highly ionized by detailed comparison of cosmological hydro-simulations of the intergalactic Medium (IGM) and galaxy formation including continuum and resonant Lyman-alpha radiative transfer with QSO absorption spectra and LBG/ Lyman-alpha emitter surveys and other data.
This will help us to make the most out the wealth of information which will be provided by new observational missions and surveys which have just begun (or are just about to begin) to report results (UKIDDS, VISTA, Planck, Herschel, COS@HST, LOFAR, ALMA). In this way we expect to make decisive contributions to the expected transformation of our understanding of this exciting period in the history of the Universe.

Measurements of the matter power spectrum on scales from 1Mpc to a Gpc from Lyman-alpha forest, weak gravitational lensing, and galaxy survey data contain important information of the nature of dark matter and the mass and number of species of neutrinos. Particularly exciting is the possibility to significantly push the limit on 'how cold' dark matter is. To robustly answer the question, whether the free-streaming of dark matter suggested to solve the dwarf-galaxy problem of the cold dark matter paradigm is consistent with Lyman-alpha forest data, is another key goal of this proposal.

Wissenschaftliches Gebiet

Finanzierungsplan

ERC-AG - ERC Advanced Grant

Gastgebende Einrichtung

THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

EU-Beitrag

€ 1 975 120,80

Adresse

TRINITY LANE THE OLD SCHOOLS
CB2 1TN Cambridge
Vereinigtes Königreich

Region

East of England East Anglia Cambridgeshire CC

Aktivitätstyp

Higher or Secondary Education Establishments

Kontakt Verwaltung

Renata Schaeffer (Ms.)

Hauptforscher

Martin Gerhard Otto Haehnelt (Prof.)

Links

Die Organisation kontaktieren Website

Gesamtkosten

Keine Daten

Begünstigte (1)