Related papers: Supermassive Dark Star candidates seen by JWST?
An initial state for the observable universe consisting of a finite region with a large vacuum energy will break-up due to near horizon quantum critical fluctuations. This will lead to a Friedmann-like early universe consisting of an…
I review recent progress in understanding the formation of the first stars and quasars. The initial conditions for their emergence are given by the now firmly established model of cosmological structure formation. Numerical simulations of…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will enable observations of galaxies at redshifts z > 10 and hence allow to test our current understanding of structure formation at very early times. Previous work has shown that the very first…
Recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope have identified a population of massive galaxy sources ($\mathrm{>10^{10}\ M_\odot}$) at $z>7-10$, formed less than 700 Myr after the Big Bang. Such massive galaxies do not have enough…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered a surprising abundance of bright galaxy candidates in the very early Universe ($< 500$ Myrs after the Big Bang), calling into question current galaxy formation models. Spectroscopy is…
The physical mechanism that allows massive stars to form is a major unsolved problem in astrophysics. Stars with masses $\gtsim 20$ $\msun$ reach the main sequence while still embedded in their natal clouds, and the immense radiation output…
Modern cosmological simulations predict that the first generation of stars formed with a mass scale around 100 solar masses about 300-400 million years after the Big Bang. When the first stars reached the end of their lives, many of them…
Growing the supermassive black holes (~10^9 Msun) that power the detected luminous, highest redshift quasars (z > 6) from light seeds - the remnants of the first stars - within ~ 1 Gyr of the Big Bang poses a timing challenge for growth…
The formation of stars is a key process in the early universe with far reaching consequences for further cosmic evolution. While stars forming from truly primordial gas are thought to be considerably more massive than our Sun, stars in the…
There has been remarkable progress recently in both observational and theoretical studies of galaxy formation and evolution. Largely due to a combination of deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging, Keck spectroscopy, and COBE far-IR background…
This paper reviews the dust content of the high redshift (z > 2) universe. Studies of the various "species" in the high-z "zoo" show that almost all have strong evidence for containing dust. The one exception, where the evidence is not yet…
Finding and characterising the first galaxies that illuminated the early Universe at cosmic dawn is pivotal to understand the physical conditions and the processes that led to the formation of the first stars. In the first few months of…
The most recent observations by the WMAP satellite provided us with data of unprecedented accuracy regarding the parameters describing the Standard Cosmological Model. The current matter-energy density of the Universe is close to its…
The collapse of supermassive primordial stars in hot, atomically-cooled halos may have given birth to the first quasars at $z \sim$ 15 - 20. Recent numerical simulations of these rapidly accreting stars reveal that they are cool, red…
According to the current paradigm of galaxy formation, the first galaxies have been likely formed within large dark matter haloes. The fragmentation of these massive haloes led to the formation of galaxy protoclusters, which are usually…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are common in local galactic nuclei, and SMBHs as massive as several billion solar masses already exist at redshift z=6. These earliest SMBHs may grow by the combination of radiation-pressure-limited…
The Cold Dark Matter theory of gravitationally-driven hierarchical structure formation has earned its status as a paradigm by explaining the distribution of matter over large spans of cosmic distance and time. However, its central tenet,…
Pop III stars are the key to the character of primeval galaxies, the first heavy elements, the onset of cosmological reionization, and the seeds of supermassive black holes. Unfortunately, in spite of their increasing sophistication,…
About one-fourth of the universe is thought to consist of dark matter. Yet there is no clear understanding about the nature of these particles. Commonly discussed dark matter candidates includes the so called WIMPs or weakly interacting…
A new $U(1)$ dark gauge group coupled to the Standard Model (SM) via the kinetic mixing portal provides a natural dark matter candidate in the form of the Higgs field, $h_d$, responsible for generating the mass of the dark photon,…