Bridging Scales at Cosmic Dawn and Reionization: Stars, Galaxies, Black Holes and the Intergalactic Medium

Dates and Venue:

12-16 July 2027 at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge

Contact:

The conference email is bridgingscales@ast.cam.ac.uk. Please feel free to also contact the co-chairs Anastasia Fialkov (afialkov@ast.cam.ac.uk ) and Lily Whitler (lw851@cam.ac.uk).

Conference dinner:

Thursday, 15th of July @Magdalene College

We are grateful for the support of the Kavli Institute for Cosmology, Cambridge, which is sponsoring this event. 

Scope:

This conference provides comprehensive coverage of the first billion years of cosmic history. By bridging the gap between leading theorists, observers, and instrumentalists, we aim to foster discussions on the most critical developments in the study of Cosmic Dawn and the Epoch of Reionization. Key themes will include:

• Sources of reionization (highlighting recent JWST and ALMA detections at high redshifts) and observational constraints
• The physical properties of the intergalactic medium and its evolution driven by sources of light and heat
• 21-cm cosmology and other atomic/molecular line mapping (including Lyα, [CII], and CO)
• The processes of metal enrichment and evolution of early stellar populations: metal-poor stars, supernovae, stellar black holes and X-ray binaries  
• The physics of Population III stars and observational constraints

This conference will comprise eight sessions focusing on the following topics:

1. Sources of reionization - theory and models
2. Sources of reionization - observations
3. Intensity mapping and 21-cm - theory and models
4. Intensity mapping and 21-cm - observations
5. Pop III star physics: formation, evolution, and fate - theory and models
6. Pop III stars - observations, including high-redshift observations from JWST and stellar archaeology
7. Metal enrichment and evolution of stellar populations - theory and observations
8. Synergies and multi-wavelength constraints for Cosmic Dawn and EoR - theory and observations

Confirmed Speakers:

• Valentina D’Odorico (INAF - National Institute of Astrophysics)
• Girish Kulkarni (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research)
• Adam Lidz (University of Pennsylvania)
• Jordan Mirocha (NASA - Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
• Laura Pentericci (INAF – National Institute of Astrophysics)
• Jonathan Pritchard (Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy)
• Piyush Sharda (Leiden University)
• Ása Skuladottir (University of Florence)

Scientific Organising Committee:

• Vasily Belokurov (University of Cambridge)
• Harry Bevins (University of Cambridge)
• Tzu-Ching Chang (NASA - Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
• Eloy de Lera Acedo (University of Cambridge)
• Xiaohui Fan (University of Arizona)
• Anastasia Fialkov (co-chair) (University of Cambridge)
• Avishai Gilkis (University of Cambridge)
• Boryana Hadzhiyska (University of Cambridge)
• Stefania Salvadori (University of Florence)
• Debora Sijacki (University of Cambridge)
• Sandro Tacchella (University of Cambridge)
• Lily Whitler (co-chair) (University of Cambridge)

Local Organising Committee:

• Joy Dufresne
• Anastasia Fialkov
• Ceren Kaser
• Cormac O'Connell
• Eleni Soumpourou
• Lily Whitler