Draft version for 2011 Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
astro-ph/1102.4638

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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