EIGER

Exploring the Inception of Galaxies and the Epoch of Reionization

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Studying the nature of the first generation of galaxies to form in the Universe is central to efforts to understand the earliest phases of galaxy evolution and the physical processes driving cosmic reionization. Building on my recent success investigating galaxy evolution at redshifts z>6, I propose to recruit and lead the research team necessary to fully exploit my involvement in two Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging programmes focused on the high-redshift Universe. The first of these is a new, ultra-deep, proprietary imaging programme in the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (on which I am co-PI) which will deliver the deepest near-IR image ever obtained and the first robust sample of z>9 galaxies. This dataset will produce the definitive measurement of the faint-end of the high-redshift galaxy luminosity function in the pre-JWST era, a key observational constraint necessary for understanding reionization. The second HST programme is the on-going, wide-area, CANDELS imaging survey, which will provide the first statistically significant sample of massive galaxies at redshifts 6<z<8, many of which will be suitable for spectroscopic follow-up. Consequently, I intend to assemble a team with the necessary skills to take full advantage of my leading position in these two key imaging datasets and to exploit opportunities for spectroscopic follow-up with the next generation of multi-object optical/near-IR spectrographs. Finally, I also propose to recruit the necessary expertise to accurately interpret the new observational results within the context of the latest spectral synthesis and galaxy formation models. In summary, the aim of this proposal is to build a research team with the interdisciplinary skills necessary to successfully exploit the latest observational datasets, interpret them within the context of the latest theoretical predictions, and thereby attempt to construct a fully consistent framework describing high-redshift galaxy evolution.'