First Light in the Universe: Saas-Fee Advanced Course 36. Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy (Saas-Fee Advanced Courses)

The exploration of the first billion years of the history of the Universe, from the so-called Dark Ages to cosmic reionisation, represents one of the great challenges of contemporary astrophysics and one of the main drivers for future observational facilities. The book contains the elaborated notes of lectures given at the 36th Saas-Fee Advanced Course "First Light in the Universe" by three eminent scientists in the field: Abraham Loeb, Andrea Ferrara, and Richard Ellis. The formation of the first stars and black holes, the initial mass function, feedback effects, early dust formation, the history of cosmic star formation, distant galaxies, cosmic reionisation and the cosmic infrared background are the main topics treated. This book provides an accessible and up-to-date review of the field and will be useful to graduate students of astronomy, cosmologists, physicists and researchers. First Light / A. Loeb 1 -- 2 Excavating The Universe For Clues About Its History 2 -- 3 Background Cosmological Model 3 -- 4 Nonlinear Growth 36 -- 5 Fragmentation Of The First Gaseous Objects To Stars 47 -- 6 Supermassive Black Holes 72 -- 7 Radiative Feedback From The First Sources Of Light 82 -- 8 Feedback From Galactic Outflows 102 -- 9 The Frontier Of 21 Cm Cosmology 113 -- 10 Major Challenge For Future Theoretical Research 137 -- Cosmological Feedbacks From The First Stars / A. Ferrara 161 -- 1 Star Formation In Primordial Gas 162 -- 2 The Initial Mass Function 170 -- 3 First Stars 180 -- 4 Observational Signatures Of First Stars 191 -- 5 Blastwaves And Winds 203 -- 6 Mechanical Feedbacks In Cosmology 210 -- 7 Additional Feedback Processes 228 -- 8 Early Cosmic Dust 236 -- 9 The Intergalactic Medium 248 -- Observations Of The High Redshift Universe / R.s. Ellis 259 -- 1 Role Of Observations In Cosmology & Galaxy Formation 259 -- 2 Galaxies & The Hubble Sequence 272 -- 3 Cosmic Star Formation Histories 283 -- 4 Stellar Mass Assembly 295 -- 5 Witnessing The End Of Cosmic Reionization 311 -- 6 Into The Dark Ages: Lyman Dropouts 320 -- 7 Lyman Alpha Emitters And Gravitational Lensing 330 -- 8 Cosmic Infrared Background 344 -- 9 Epilogue: Future Prospects 353. A. Loeb, A. Ferrara, R.s. Ellis. Lectures Presented At The 36th Saas-fee Advanced Courses Of The Swiss Society For Astrophysics And Astronomy, 3-8 April 2006, In Les Diablerets, Switzerland. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. The exploration of the first billion years of the history of the Universe represents one of the great challenges of contemporary astrophysics. During this time, the first structures start to form the first stars, galaxies, and possibly also soon the first quasars. At the same time, light comes to the dark, neutral Universe. This book contains the worked out lectures given at the 36th Saas-Fee Advanced Course "First Light in the Universe" by three eminent scientists in the field. Contains the worked out lectures given at the 36th Saas-Fee Advanced Course "First Light in the Universe" by three scientists in the field: Abraham Loeb, Andrea Ferrara, and Richard Ellis. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the physics of galaxies, stars, the interstellar and intergalactic medium in the early Universe