Observational Cosmology with the ELT and JWST

TL;DR

This paper discusses the potential of the ELT and JWST in studying the Cosmic Dark Ages, emphasizing the need for advanced near-IR spectrometers to bridge observational gaps in understanding early galaxies and reionization.

Contribution

It highlights the importance of high-throughput, high-multiplexing near-IR spectrometers on the ELT to complement JWST's capabilities in early universe studies.

Findings

JWST's NIRSpec has limited field of view for follow-up spectroscopy.

ELT's spectrometers are crucial for studying high-redshift QSOs and small galaxies.

A dedicated near-IR spectrometer on the ELT would fill current observational gaps.

Abstract

I will focus on the study of the Cosmic Dark ages and in particular on the properties of the galaxies responsible for the reionization of Hydrogen and on the possibility of detecting the first generation of galaxies and the first stars. I will make the case that there is a large and widening gap between our present and future capabilities in imaging and what we can follow-up spectroscopically even with the NIRSpec spectrograph on the James Webb Space Telescope because of its moderate field of view. A high throughput, high multiplexing near-IR spectrometer on the Extremely Large Telescope would be important to contain this gap. Studying the Lyman alpha forest of QSOs at z>=7 and measuring the kinematics of small mass galaxies at high-z are also problems unsuited to JWST and where a high-throughput, medium-high resolution near-IR spectrograph on the ELT would be essential.