Reionization And Diffuse Cosmic Gas

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Everything we see in the Universe, from galaxies to planets, started its life as cosmic gas. At very early times the hydrogen in this gas underwent an important transformation, called reionisation, triggered by the birth of the first stars. Understanding this transformation is a key outstanding question in modern astrophysics and sets up the conditions for all that follows. This project will combine innovative supercomputer simulations of cosmic gas and galaxies, with Keck observations of real diffuse gas and galaxies up to 12 billion light years distant. The project aims to distinguish between two popular reionisation scenarios. The simulations will be made public to the astronomical community.