Objective Cosmic reionization corresponds to the period in the history of the Universe during which the predominantly neutral intergalactic medium was ionised by the emergence of the first luminous sources. Young stars in primeval galaxies may be the sources of reionization, if the ionising radiation, called Lyman continuum (LyC), that they produce can escape their interstellar medium: the escape fraction of LyC photons from galaxies is one of the main unknowns of reionization studies. This ERC project will contribute to answer this question, by computing from simulated galaxies three indirect diagnostics of LyC leakage that were recently reported in the literature, and comparing the virtual observables with the direct escape of LyC photons from simulated galaxies, and with observations. The first diagnostic for LyC leakage relates the escape of the strongly resonant Lyman-alpha radiation from galaxies to the LyC escape. It was proposed by the PI (Verhamme et al. 2015), and recently validated by observations (Verhamme et al. 2016). The second diagnostic proposes that the strength of Oxygen lines ratios can trace density-bounded interstellar regions. It was the selection criterion for the successful detection of 5 strong Lyman Continuum Emitters from our team (Izotov 2016a,b). The third diagnostic relates the metallic absorption line strengths to the porosity of the absorbing interstellar gas in front of the stars. The increasing opacity of the intergalactic medium with redshift renders direct LyC detections impossible during reionisation. Indirect methods are the only probes of LyC leakage in the distant Universe, and the proposed diagnostics will soon become observables at the redshifts of interest with JWST. They have passed the validation tests, it is now urgent to calibrate these indicators on state-of-the art simulations of galaxy formation. This is the main objective of the proposed project. Fields of science engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsfossil energynatural gasnatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyphysical cosmologygalaxy evolutionnatural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsphotons Keywords cosmic reionisation Lyman-alpha resonant line radiation transfer simulations radiation hydrodynamics simulations Lyman continuum escape from galaxies Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2017-STG - ERC Starting Grant Call for proposal ERC-2017-STG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-STG - Starting Grant Host institution UNIVERSITE DE GENEVE Net EU contribution € 1 500 000,00 Address RUE DU GENERAL DUFOUR 24 1211 Geneve Switzerland See on map Region Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Région lémanique Genève 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 Total cost € 1 500 000,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITE DE GENEVE Switzerland Net EU contribution € 1 500 000,00 Address RUE DU GENERAL DUFOUR 24 1211 Geneve See on map Region Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Région lémanique Genève 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 Total cost € 1 500 000,00
