Emission Line Studies of Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization

The first billion years of cosmic time marks the epoch where the first galaxies form and reionise the neutral hydrogen that pervades the Universe.

We can directly study these first sources of light from deep astronomical observations, using the world's most powerful telescopes.

This project will use state-of-the-art data from the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) to study the feeding and feedback processes that shape the build-up of these early sources through the kinematic study of interstellar and circumstellar medium gas.

Furthermore, this project will take advantage of new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) data to study the production efficiency of ionising photons within star-forming galaxies in the first billion years in order to assess the effectiveness of these 'engines' in bringing about cosmic Reionization.