Italian if only Italian students are present. Otherwise in English
Course Content
Formation of the first cosmic structures. Formation and evolution of first stars and of the first black holes. Feedback processes from the first cosmic sources and their impact on galaxy formation. Simulations of the first galaxies and high-z observations with JWST. Cosmic Archaeology.
There is not a unique reference text. For different arguments we will use parts of text books (e.g. Mo, Bosch, & White, 2010: “Galaxy Formation and evolution”, Cambridge University Press; Padmanabhan, 1993 :”Structure Formation in the Universe”) and reviews (e.g. Barkana & Loeb 2001, “In the beginning: the first sources of light and the reionization of the Universe”. Loeb, Ferrara & Ellis 2007 “The first light in the Universe”, Saas-Fe Lectures, Springer. Bromm 2011, “The first galaxies”) that will be specifically indicated during the course.
Learning Objectives
Knowledge acquired: the physical bases of post-recombination cosmology with special regard to the formation of the first stars, first galaxies, and first black holes.
Competence acquired: to be aware of the most important open questions in post-recombination cosmology; to be able to interpret observations and to built-up simple physical models related to the formation of the first stars and galaxies.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course): to be able to follow seminars and to read literature papers; to be able to develop simple cosmological models to study the properties of the first stars and galaxies; to be able to interpret the chemical abundances observed in the most pristine astrophysical objects.
Prerequisites
Courses to be used as requirements (required and/or recommended)
Courses required: none
Courses recommended:
Astrofisica, Cosmologia
Teaching Methods
CFU: 6
Total hours of the course (including the time spent in attending lectures, seminars, private study, examinations, etc.): 150
Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 48
Further information
Office hours:
On request
Prof. Stefania Salvadori Physics & Astronomy Department
e-mail: stefania.salvadori@unifi.it
http://www.stefaniasalvadori.com
Type of Assessment
Oral exam, lasting ~ 45 minutes. The student will chose an argument among those discussed in the course and the teacher will provide 3-5 scientific papers on the selected topic. Among these paper, the student will chose one to be studies and presented. Then, the oral exam will be divided into two parts. The first one, in which the student will present the selected paper in 20-25 min (e.g. with power point). A second part, in which the student will address questions on both the presentation and the more general topics discussed in the course (e.g. first stars' properties, physical reason for their differences with respect to present-day stars). This exams will thus allow the teacher to evaluate both the knowledges acquired during the course, and his/her capability of elaborating and deepening the topics.
Course program
Formation of the first cosmic structures: from the linear growth of the density fluctuations to the formation of the dark matter haloes; the halo mass function and the hierarchical merger trees; the formation of the first proto-galaxies.First stars and first black holes: the formation process; the initial mass function; the emission spectrum; the evolution; the formation of the first heavy elements.The feedback processes and their impact on galaxy formation: the Lyman-Werner background; the reionization and chemical enrichment of the inter-galactic-medium; theoretical expectations and observational probes.From the first galaxies to the observed Universe: simulations vs cosmological models of first stars and galaxies; available observations of the far and near Universe; future observations.Cosmic Archaeology: how to use Local observations to study the first stars; the most metal-poor stars as living relics of the first stars; dwarf galaxies as Local counterpart of the first galaxies.