Project A
Probing the first galaxies with ALMA
Melanie Kaasinen & Joshiwa van Marrewijk
New telescopes and instruments allow us to peer into the very distant and early Universe. But current observations might imply that our predictions for some of the first Galaxies are incorrect. Join us on a journey to predict the observable properties of the proposed earliest Galaxies in the Universe, which have the potential to allow us to confirm or reject their presence.
The aim of this project is to design an effective observing strategy with ALMA to study the gas in potential first galaxies, identified with the James Webb Space telescope (JWST). Current ALMA observations of these potential first galaxies fail to reveal any emission. Does this mean that the JWST-based predictions are incorrect? Or, have the existing ALMA observations of [OIII] emission simply not reached the necessary depth? The latter would imply that previous assumptions on the mechanics producing the light in these galaxies have been flawed.
To address this, the student will extract (from existing models) the brightness of the [OIII] emission for the low gas metallicities and densities predicted for such young galaxies. Then, the student will use the ALMA observing tool to determine with which configuration and for what amount of time, these galaxies need to be observed to absolutely, definitively, detect the [OIII] emission and thus confirm or reject the proposed earliest galaxies in the Universe. If any time remains, the student may also get their hands dirty, testing the existing ALMA data on some of these galaxies.
Through this project, the student will learn to extract information from lookup tables, interpolate between a grid of linked values, convert between different astrophysical units and design sub-/millimeter interferometric observations. Moreover, they will gain an insight into a cutting-edge field of research (i.e. finding and characterising the first galaxies) and into the physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium.