Revealing the First Stellar and Supermassive Black Holes to EXIST

TL;DR

The paper discusses the proposed EXIST mission's capabilities to detect high-redshift gamma-ray bursts and blazars, which can reveal the formation of the first stars, galaxies, and supermassive black holes in the early universe.

Contribution

It introduces the design and science objectives of the EXIST mission, emphasizing its potential to observe the earliest cosmic objects and phenomena.

Findings

Exist can detect high-redshift GRBs and blazars.

It can probe the epoch of reionization and early black hole growth.

The mission offers unprecedented sensitivity and coverage for early universe studies.

Abstract

The epochs of origin of the first stars and galaxies, and subsequent growth of the first supermassive black holes, are among the most fundamental questions. Observations of the highest redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) will be the most compelling in situ probe of the history of initial star formation and consequent epoch of reionization if their prompt and precise detection can be followed immediately by sensitive near-IR imaging and spectroscopy. Blazars are the persistent analogs of GRBs and for the same reason (beaming) can be observed at highest redshifts where they might best trace the high accretion rate-driven jets and growth of supermassive black holes in galaxies. The proposed EXIST mission can uniquely probe these questions, and many others, given its unparalled combination of sensitivity and spatial-spectral-temporal coverage and resolution. Here we provide a brief summary of the mission design, key science objectives, mission plan and readiness for EXIST, as proposed to Astro2010.