Wednesday 8 October - Rebecca Bowler - The first stars and galaxies: deep surveys

To probe the reionization era requires samples of galaxies and AGN at very high redshifts. Using deep photometric surveys it has been possible to select galaxies probing up to the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang. In the first lecture I will describe the main techniques and key datasets for the selection and study of galaxies in the reionization era within deep photometric surveys. The second lecture will focus on the results of these surveys in terms of basic galaxy properties - the number density, colours and physical properties. I will end by presenting a comparison with simulations, to put these observables into context, and open questions in the field.

Lecture 1: Searching for the first stars and galaxies - techniques
Chapter 1 – Observational signatures of the first galaxies
Chapter 2 – Photometric surveys, the power of JWST to Euclid
Chapter 3 – Selection techniques: principles and challenges
Lecture 2: Searching for the first stars and galaxies - results and outlook
Chapter 4 – Overview of galaxy samples to-date
Chapter 5 – Distribution functions (luminosity function, mass function etc)
Chapter 6 – Comparison to simulations and open questions