Speaker
Description
The formation of the first galaxies was anything but boring—intense bursts of star formation, turbulent mergers, and the gradual emergence of structure all played a role in shaping the universe as we see it today. In this talk, I will explore the latest breakthroughs in our understanding of early galaxy evolution, bridging state-of-the-art theoretical models with groundbreaking observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Using insights from the THESAN-zoom cosmological simulations, I will examine how the first galaxies regulated their star formation, evolved along the star-forming main sequence, and grew in size in the first billion year of cosmic time. Connecting these predictions with new JWST data from the JADES survey, I will highlight the remarkable diversity of galaxies at cosmic dawn (redshift z>10), where intense bursts of star formation and black hole activity were common. I will also discuss how galaxy mergers influenced their evolution and how disk-like structures began to emerge during the Epoch of Reionization (z=4−10). By linking theoretical and observational constraints, this talk will provide a comprehensive picture of how galaxies took shape in the early universe, shedding light on the forces that governed their tumultuous beginnings.
