Michael Zemcov
The Epoch of Reionization
A major focus of my current research is
observation of
the
epoch of reionization.
This was the era during which
the
first
population of stars in the Universe, seeded by
the same over-densities visible in the cosmic
microwave background radiation, ionized the
neutral hydrogen then ubiquitously present in the Universe.
The epoch of reionization is at the
forefront of current cosmological research,
and what little is known about it suggests it
was virtually complete at the earliest times
we are able to probe with today's best
optical instruments. The details of the
process, such as when it began, how long it
took, and what class of sources produced it,
are not known. The image below shows our
current understanding of the process of
reionization, which began roughly 500 million
years after the big bang and was complete
about 500 million years later.
A promising way to study the epoch of
reionization is using the fluctuations it
causes in
the
infra-red background. Several
of the projects I am currently involved with
are searching for these fluctuations, which
will allow a much better understanding of
the generation of the first galaxies
in the Universe and the processes which led
to them.
The Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment
(CIBER)
is a sounding rocket borne
experiment which is optimized to search for
the signatures of reionization in the near
infrared background. With its first flight
in early 2009 and second in the middle of
2010, the CIBER payload has been extremely
successful. The continuation of this
project, CIBER-2, is currently being
designed and will fly in 2013. In addition,
we are working on a small space mission to
measure the near infrared fluctuations from
a distant vantage point in the solar system
such as Saturn
named
ZEBRA. The future of
reionization studies in the infrared is
promising.
Further Reading
CIBER Photos
At work in the clean room at Wallops Flight
Facility during payload integration.
The CIBER flight team with the rocket
on the rail the day before our 2009 launch.
Lifting off into the dark New Mexico sky.
