The End of the Universe's Dark Ages |
| TYPE | Colloquium |
| Speaker: | Prof. Saleem Zaroubi |
| Affiliation: | Groningen (The Netherlands) and Physics-Technion |
| Organizer: | Eric Akkerman |
| Date: | 02.12.2010 |
| Time: | 16:30 |
| Location: | Lidow Rosen Auditorium (323) |
| Abstract: | The Epoch of Reionization, which marks the end of the Universe's "Dark Ages", is one of the least explored epochs in cosmic evolution. During this epoch, the all-pervasive cosmic gas transforms from neutral to ionized. The Epoch of Reionization is thought to be caused by the first astrophysical sources of radiation and its study is crucial to our understanding of the physics of these sources and how they influenced the formation of later generations of astrophysical objects. To explore this pivotal epoch a number of radio telescopes are being build or designed (LOFAR, MWA, 21CMA, SKA) to observe the 21-cm hyperfine emission line of neutral hydrogen from the intergalactic medium during cosmic reionization. In this talk I'll review our current understanding of this epoch and describe how it will observed with Radio telescopes and what we hope to learn from it. |