Assigned ID: 97 ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Wed Feb 24 18:24:32 GMT 2010) ----- ----- Attempting Submission 2 (Wed Feb 24 18:32:13 GMT 2010) ----- We propose to use our newly-developed cosmological radiative hydrodynamical galaxy formation code to study the formation and evolution of galaxies at redshifts z>6 as seen with existing and upcoming HST/WFPC3 observations. We focus on the relationship between this galaxy population and the physics of reionizing the IGM. We will investigate four key questions: - Do models yield z>6 galaxies with physical & photometric properties as observed? - Can such early galaxies produce sufficient photons to reionize the universe by z~6? - What is topology and timeline of reionization, in relation to the galaxy population? - How do photoionization and superwind feedback interact to regulate early galaxies? Our code, MARCH, combines moment-based radiative transport with our advanced version of Gadget-2 to self-consistently evolve galaxies and intergalactic gas from the Dark Ages until the end of reionization. By extracting photometric properties and comparing to data using our Bayesian SED fitter SPOC, we can assess with formal statistics how well these simulations can reproduce observations of high-z galaxies. Building on preliminary model successes, we will investigate what such observations imply for how galaxies reionize the IGM, and what feedback processes must be active in order to reproduce the galaxy population and IGM evolution as observed. Our results will impact and support a wide range of HST programs designed to detect and characterize galaxies in the reionization epoch.

COSMOLOGY 12 69531 1 yr student, 1 mo PI salary, travel false 0.0 0.0 false false false true false false SUPPORTED