Objective The discovery of galaxies formed when the Universe was less than 1 Gyr old has been a major breakthrough of extragalactic astronomy. During this period, called Epoch of Reionization (EoR), the Universe experienced a dramatic change: from being a dark “sea” of neutral hydrogen and helium, it got completely reionized and polluted with elements heavier than helium. Thus, characterizing the bulk of galaxy population at these early epochs is pivotal because of their strong impact on the cosmic evolution.The most distant galaxies have been detected searching for their Lyman-α emission (Lyman Alpha Emitters; LAEs), and/or for the “step”, introduced by the blanketing effect of neutral hydrogen into their UV continuum emission (Lyman Break Galaxies; LBGs). LAEs/LBGs are quite “normal” objects, therefore they are thought to be fairly representative of the bulk of galaxies at the end of the EoR.Our knowledge about these sources regards their stellar component (star formation rates, stellar age and mass). However, we have few clues about their interstellar medium, the properties of the giant molecular clouds (GMCs) where stars form, and, most importantly, the possible presence of faint Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). So far only extremely luminous ones, produced by gas accretion onto supermassive black holes whose formation is puzzling, have been detected during the EoR.I propose to model chemical, physical, and radiative processes in GMCs illuminated by both young stars and AGN. The aim is to quantify: (i) the impact of far-ultraviolet and X- ray photons on the clumpy structure of GMCs, (ii) the resulting time evolution of the line luminosities from GMCs (iii) whether the AGN signature can be observed in the molecular emission and (iv) which are the best LAE/LBG candidates (in term of star formation rate and age of stellar population) for observational follow up targeting the molecular gas. Fields of science natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrynoble gasesnatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyextragalactic astronomynatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyastrophysicsblack holesnatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyplanetary sciencescelestial mechanicsnatural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsphotons Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2016 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2016 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF Coordinator UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN Net EU contribution € 165 598,80 Address Rapenburg 70 2311 EZ Leiden Netherlands See on map Region West-Nederland Zuid-Holland Agglomeratie Leiden en Bollenstreek Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
