Signals from the Deep Past - Unveiling Early Cosmic Structures
It has been a pleasure to organise the first conference in Malta dedicated to the high redshift universe. A number of leaders in the field visited the islands to discuss their latest work and future plans.
Beside the specialist discussions, the conference also served as a platform for public engagement; to this end a public talk was organised on one of the evenings, with contributions by Stephen Wilkins and Pratika Dayal.
Below you may find the scientific rationale and some pictures from this event.
Scientific Rationale
We are living in very exciting times for studies of the high-redshift universe. On the observational side, a multitude of facilities – from the Hubble Space Telescope to a host of ground-based observatories – have enabled us to glimpse ever more distant light, allowing us to address several questions about primeval galaxies and their environment. Alongside observations, theoretical and computational efforts continue to refine our understanding of these early structures.
However, a large number of fundamental questions remain, amongst which: How extended was cosmic reionization and what was the role that different ionizing sources played in this process? What was the interaction of the first quasars and galaxies with the intergalactic medium? How did the first galaxies form and what were their properties? How can studies at lower redshift inform us about the high-z universe? Specifically, what insight on structure formation can we gain from studies of z ~ 3 – 5 protoclusters? What constraints do studies of the IGM at lower redshift set on its properties at high-z? How can objects such as continuum leakers and Lyman-break “analogues” help us in understanding high-z objects? What have we learnt about radiation backgrounds (NIRB, UVB, CMB) in recent times? And how can current instrumentation help us address these and other questions?
Shifting our gaze towards the future, we are approaching the era of truly revolutionary tools: JWST, EUCLID, giant telescopes and 21cm surveys with the likes of LOFAR, MRA, HERA, and in the long term SKA. How can theory inform and guide us better in our preparation of future observations with these upcoming facilities?
By gathering observers and theoreticians together at this meeting on the Mediterranean island of Malta, we strive for a lively discussion of these outstanding questions. We plan to also have open discussion sessions to further debate these issues.
Main Topics:
– The IGM at high-z
– Reionization of Hydrogen
– Reionization of Helium
– Galaxies, QSOs and AGN as probes of the universe at high-z
– Galaxy evolution at high-z
– High-z structure & clustering
– Protoclusters at z ~ 3 – 5
– 21cm science with LOFAR and SKA
Pictures from the Conference
News Feature about the Conference (includes video clip)
