Draft version for 2011 Annual Reviews of Astronomy and
Astrophysics.
astro-ph/1102.4638
For a PDF version of the article, click here.
THE FIRST GALAXIES
Volker Bromm 1 & Naoki Yoshida
2
1 Department of Astronomy and
Texas Cosmology
Center,
University of
Texas, Austin, Texas 78712
2 Institute for
the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe,
University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan
Abstract:
We review our current understanding of how the first galaxies formed at the
end of the cosmic dark ages, a few 100 million years after the Big Bang.
Modern large telescopes discovered galaxies at redshifts greater than seven,
whereas theoretical studies have just reached the degree of sophistication
necessary to make meaningful predictions.
A crucial ingredient is the feedback exerted by the first generation of
stars, through UV radiation, supernova blast waves, and chemical
enrichment. The key goal is to derive the signature of the first
galaxies to be observed with upcoming or planned next-generation
facilities, such as the James Webb Space Telescope or
Atacama Large Millimeter Array.
From the observational side, ongoing deep-field searches for very
high-redshift galaxies begin to provide
us with empirical constraints on the nature of the first galaxies.
Key Words: cosmology, galaxy formation,
intergalactic medium, star formation, Population III
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
- WHAT IS A FIRST GALAXY?
- Theoretical Perspective
- Observational Perspective
- CONSTRAINTS FROM EXISTING OBSERVATIONS
- High-redshift Dropout galaxies
- Lyman-
Emitters
- THEORETICAL STUDIES
- Overview
- Pre-Galactic Metal Enrichment
- Star Formation in the First Galaxies
- Radiation from the First Galaxies
- THE FIRST SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES
- Formation Models
- SMBH-First Galaxy Coevolution
- James Webb Space Telescope SIGNATURE
- JWST Instruments and Sensitivities
- Observing High-redshift Sources
- Modelling Star Formation in the First Galaxies
- Source Number Counts
- STELLAR ARCHAEOLOGY
- Ultrafaint Dwarf Galaxies
- Theoretical Models
- OUTLOOK
- REFERENCES
