Assembly Of The First Dwarf Galaxies

Abstract

Understanding the formation and evolution of the first stars and galaxies is crucial to understanding reionization, a key epoch in the history of the Universe. Detailed theoretical studies of the galaxies before and during reionization are now particularly urgent because of the wealth of observational data that will soon be provided by the next generation of telescopes, such as JWST, ALMA, LOFAR, MWA, and others. We simulate the formation of the first galaxies using cosmological smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations. Zooming in on individual galaxies, we explore how various physical processes affect their assembly and further evolution. A highlight of our study will be the simulation of the radiation-hydrodynamics of galaxy assembly, which we will perform using our multi-frequency radiative transfer method TRAPHIC. Feedback from radiation has long been suspected to play a decisive role in galaxy formation and we will investigate its implications for observable properties of the first galaxies.