| Speaker: | Saleem Zaroubi (Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Groningen) |
|---|---|
| Title: | Probing the End of the Universe's Dark Ages with LOFAR |
| Date (JST): | Tue, Feb 24, 2009, 15:30 - 16:30 |
| Place: | Room 633, 6th floor, General Research Building |
| Abstract: | The Epoch of Reionization (EoR), which marks the end of the Universe's "Dark Ages", is one of the least explored epochs in cosmic evolution. During this epoch, the first radiation emitting objects (stars, quasars, etc.) began to heat up and ionize the surrounding intergalactic medium. It is generally accepted that the most promising probe to study this pivotal epoch is the 21-cm hyperfine emission line of neutral hydrogen from the intergalactic medium during the EoR, redshifted today in the 2-meter wavelength range. In this talk I'll review our current understanding of the EoR and describe the LOFAR EoR key science project and what we hope to learn from it. |
