ED352 - course 'Fiat Lux, When the Very First Stars Light up in the Universe' - BURGARELLA

The objective of this course is to give you a picture of the early Universe, and to explain how observations bring information on it

1. What is the high-redshift Universe? An historical perspective from the antiquity to today
2. A brief fly-over the early history of the Universe, before and during the Epoch of Reionization
3. Focusing on the main milestones that shaped the Universe we observe today, and its content
Recombination
Dark ages
First structures
First stars
First black holes
First metals and dust grains
First planets (and life?)
Reionization
Black holes / galaxies co-evolution
4. What do model predict?
5. Observing the high redshift Universe
5.1. The main methods to detect and identify objects in the early Universe
Lyman break technique
Photometric redshifts
Negative K-correction
Spectroscopic redshifts
Transients as host galaxy tracers
others
5.2. The main tools/methods to characterize objects in the early Universe
Emission lines from gas
Dust emission
Color-color diagrams, spectral slopes
Fitting spectral energy distributions
Luminosity, mass and other functions
others
5.3. How do model compare to observations?
6. Prospects for the end of hte 2020's and the beginning of the 2030's
7. Conclusion

This lecture is intended to students with a master in physics, not necessarily with a specialization in astrophysics.

This lecture aims to give a global view of the early universe, and methods to observe it.