CTC Seminar: Bingjie Wang (Penn State), The First Galaxies and Black Holes: Surprises from JWST

The First Galaxies and Black Holes: Surprises from JWST

Bingjie Wang 
Postdoc

Abstract: The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is transforming our understanding on galaxy formation and evolution, revealing distant galaxies deep into the epoch of reionization and red sources that were simply unknown previously. In this talk, I will present some of the most surprising discoveries of the JWST era. I will begin with one of JWST's first deep fields, the A2744 cluster field, targeted as part of the UNCOVER survey. This rich, public dataset, reveals stellar populations across 0.2 < z < 13, and helps to lead to the discovery of some of the most distant galaxies known to date. I will then turn to a new population of compact red sources, revealed by JWST's optical and infrared sensitivity. Initially interpreted as apparently massive galaxies at z > 7, these objects imply a strongly accelerated timeline compared to standard models of galaxy growth. Yet, major uncertainties remain about their nature. I will show detailed studies of these so-far mysterious "little red dots", enabled by the spectroscopic data from the RUBIES program. Potential origins and evolutionary tracks will be explored, from the cores of massive galaxies to black holes embedded in a dense hydrogen cloud. I will conclude with remaining puzzles and possible future directions to form a complete physical picture of these intriguing systems.

Host: Ankita Bera