Colloq Abstract - Banados
December 7, 2018
11:00am Mountain
Eduardo Banados (Carnegie Obs.)
Quasars in the epoch of reionization
Abstract
A prime objective of observational astrophysics is to characterize the earliest sources in the first Gyr of the universe, by directly observing the cosmic times when the first stars, black holes, and galaxies formed. Quasars are among the most luminous sources known and can be studied in detail even during the earliest cosmic epochs. I will discuss my search for these distant quasars, an effort which has tripled the number of quasars known within the first Gyr after the Big Bang (at redshifts z>6), and resulted in the discovery of the highest redshift quasar known to date. These distant quasars provide important clues about the epoch of reionization, when the universe transitioned from being completely neutral to ionized. I will review the diverse range of physical properties of these quasars, their host galaxies, and their environments including follow-up studies from X-rays to radio wavelengths.
