A Complete Understanding of Massive Galaxy Formation into the Epoch of Reionization

现代天文学的前沿是对第一个星系的研究，当时宇宙还不到现在年龄的10%。正是在这个时代，第一代恒星创造了第一批“重”元素（如碳、氧、铁）的原子，同时超大质量黑洞的种子正在形成。尽管非常遥远，但了解这些原始星系是至关重要的，因为它们是后来所有星系形成的基石。值得注意的是，使用哈勃太空望远镜等望远镜，已经有可能探测和研究这个时代的星系。尽管取得了这些进展，但最基本的测量之一，即最亮、质量最大的星系的数量，在早期宇宙中是未知的。在未来的几年里，来自地面望远镜的新数据集和几个新的太空任务将彻底改变这个领域，有能力探测到数千个这样的星系。我以前的经验和分析这些新数据的创新方法，通过结合波长范围内的信息，将提供对这些星系的全面了解，并揭示早期星系形成的详细天体物理学。该结果将首次限制超大质量黑洞何时变得活跃，以及何时发生显著富集（导致被宇宙尘埃遮挡）。我还将确定这些星系在宇宙历史上一个关键阶段的作用，即“再电离时代”，在这个时期，主要中性的宇宙被第一批恒星和/或活跃的黑洞电离。

At the frontier of modern astronomy is the study of first galaxies, when the universe was less than 10% of its current age. It is within this era that the first atoms of 'heavy' elements (such as Carbon, Oxygen, Iron) were created by the first generations of stars, and when the seeds of supermassive black holes were being formed. Despite being extremely distant, it is vital to understand this primordial galaxies, as they are the building-blocks of all subsequent galaxy formation. Remarkably, using telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, it has been possible to detect and study galaxies in this epoch. Despite these advances, one of the most fundamental measurements, the number of the brightest and most massive galaxies, is unknown in the early Universe.In the coming years, new data-sets from both established ground-based telescopes, and several new space-missions will revolutionise the field, with the capability of detecting many thousands of such galaxies. My previous experience and innovative approach to analysing these new data, by combining information at a range of wavelengths, will provide a full understanding of these galaxies and reveal the detailed astrophysics of galaxy formation at this early time. The result will be the first constraints on when supermassive black-holes became active and on when significant enrichment occurred (leading to obscuration by cosmic dust). I will also determine the role of these galaxies in a crucial phase change in the history of the universe, the 'Epoch of Reionization', where the predominantly neutral Universe became ionised by the first stars and/or active black holes.