Speaker
Description
Utilizing the transformative capabilities of JWST, Euclid, and other recent ground- and space-based observatories and results, I will discuss the origins of the first stars, the emergence of early black holes, and the rapid assembly of galaxies during the first few billion years of cosmic history. By integrating deep multi-wavelength imaging and spectroscopy, I will present a comprehensive census of thousands of galaxies across the Epoch of Reionization and beyond (6.5 < z < 15), including new results from the Euclid Space Telescope. This includes the discovery of "Little Red Dots" (LRDs) — compact, red objects that represent a surprising population of early obscured AGN or extremely dense stellar systems. I will discuss how these populations, alongside newly identified galaxies at z > 10, reveal a complex interplay between internal star formation and hierarchical assembly. A central focus of the talk will be how we can now quantify the mass assembly in galaxies through the merger process, which our data indicates is responsible for up to 50% of the stellar mass assembly in these early systems. I will conclude by discussing the implications of these early black hole and galaxy populations for current theoretical models and what this new census reveals about the broader history of structure formation within the dominant cosmology framework.