Objective
"Over the past 15 years, my team have pushed the frontier for the most distant known objects to higher redshifts, exploring galaxies when the Universe was young using the Hubble Space Telescope and large ground-based telescopes. As well as discovering galaxies within the first billion years (90percent of the way back in time to the Big Bang), our knowledge of the composition of the Universe has also grown - dark matter and dark energy dictate the expansion history and initial collapse of structures which ultimately form galaxies. We now know that the gas between the galaxies, initially plasma, became mostly neutral about 300,000 years after the Big Bang, but again became plasma about a billion years later. The first few generations of stars to form, with a contribution from high redshift quasars, might be responsible for this reionization, but we have yet to find the galaxies accounting for the bulk of the ionizing photons and key questions remain: what is the contribution from the faintest dwarf galaxies in the luminosity function at high redshift? what fraction of ionizing photons emitted by stars reach the intergalactic gas? is the first generation of stars forming from primordial hydrogen and helium more efficient in producing ionizing photons?
I am in a privileged position to address these questions, as a member of the ESA Instrument Science Team since 2005 for the near-infrared spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), due to launch in May 2020. Much of our 900 hours of guaranteed time will be spectroscopy of high redshift galaxies, and I am leading the deep tier of our survey to get accurate redshifts (vital for luminosity functions), measure the stellar populations (ages and star formation rates), assess the escape fractions of ionizing photons and determine the metal enrichment (potentially finding the long-sought ""Population III"", the first stars to form). With this ERC grant I aim to assemble a team to achieve these science goals.
"
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry noble gases
- humanities history and archaeology history
- natural sciences physical sciences theoretical physics particle physics photons
- natural sciences physical sciences optics spectroscopy
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2017-ADG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
OX1 2JD Oxford
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.