Related papers: First Stars, Reionization and Gamma-Ray Bursts
We review recent theoretical results on the formation of the first stars and quasars in the universe, and emphasize related open questions. In particular, we list important differences between the star formation process at high redshifts…
Probing the growth of structure from the epoch of hydrogen recombination to the formation of the first stars and galaxies is one of the most important uncharted areas of observational cosmology. Far-IR spectroscopy covering $\lambda$…
Long Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are the brightest electromagnetic explosions in the Universe, associated to the death of massive stars. As such, GRBs are potential tracers of the evolution of the cosmic massive star formation, metallicity, and…
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are believed to originate in compact remnants (black holes or neutron stars) of massive stars. Their high luminosities make them detectable out to the edge of the visible universe. We describe the many advantages of…
Lyman-alpha absorption is a prominent cosmological tool for probing both galactic halos and the intergalactic medium at high redshift. We consider a variety of sources that can be used as the Lyman-alpha emitters for this purpose. Among…
Several lines of evidence and theoretical arguments suggest that a large fraction of starlight is absorbed by interstellar dust and re-radiated at far-IR wavelengths, particularly during early evolutionary phases of early type galaxies,…
Understanding the formation of the first stars and galaxies is a key problem in modern cosmology. In these lecture notes, we will derive some of the basic physical principles underlying this emerging field. We will consider the basic…
The epochs of origin of the first stars and galaxies, and subsequent growth of the first supermassive black holes, are among the most fundamental questions. Observations of the highest redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) will be the most…
Cosmic gamma-ray bursts are one of the great frontiers of astrophysics today. They are a playground of relativists and observers alike. They may teach us about the death of stars and the birth of black holes, the physics in extreme…
It is thought that the first generations of massive stars in the Universe were an important, and quite possibly dominant, source of the ultra-violet radiation that reionized the hydrogen gas in the intergalactic medium (IGM); a state in…
Cosmological Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) offer a unique perspective to probe the evolution of distant galaxies. We discuss one of the multiple benefits of this approach, i.e. the detection of transient edges in the GRB prompt phase emission.…
The universe goes through several phase transitions during its formative stages. Cosmic reionization is the last of them, where ultraviolet and X-ray radiation escape from the first generations of galaxies heating and ionizing their…
The formation of the first stars and the subsequent population of X-ray binaries represents a fundamental transition in the state of the Universe as it evolves from near homogeneity to being abundant in collapsed structures such as…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are extremely energetic events at cosmological distances. They provide unique laboratory to investigate fundamental physical processes under extreme conditions. Due to extreme luminosities, GRBs are detectable at…
The earliest generation of stars, far from being a mere novelty, transformed the universe from darkness to light. The first atoms to form after the Big Bang filled the universe with atomic hydrogen and a few light elements. As gravity…
The rest-frame UV emission from massive stars contains a wealth of information about the physical nature and conditions of star formation in galaxies. Using studies of the rest-frame UV, the past decade has witnessed the beginning of…
Studies of the cosmic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and their host galaxies are starting to provide interesting or even unique new insights in observational cosmology. GRBs represent a new way of identifying a population of star-forming galaxies…
(Abridged) The contemporary discoveries of galaxies and gamma ray bursts (GRBs) at high redshift have supplied the first direct information on star formation when the universe was only a few hundred million years old. The probable origin of…
Understanding the formation and evolution of the first stars and galaxies represents one of the most exciting frontiers in astronomy. Since the universe was filled with neutral hydrogen at early times, the most promising method for…
Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (long-GRBs) can be detected throughout cosmic history and provide several unique insights into star-formation and galaxy evolution back to the era of reionization. They can be used to map star formation,…