100 million years after the Big Bang

TL;DR

This paper discusses the capabilities of the Dark Energy Camera for deep infrared surveys to study key cosmic events and objects from the early universe, including galaxy formation, reionization, and black hole emergence.

Contribution

It proposes a new deep field survey program using DECam to observe high-redshift galaxies and early universe phenomena in the near-infrared.

Findings

Potential to observe M* galaxies at redshift 6

Enables study of early universe reionization

Facilitates investigation of supermassive black hole formation

Abstract

Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco 4 meter telescope not only has the focal plane size the 4 meters were built for, but also has excellent near infrared response. A DECam Deep Fields program is outlined, which can reach M* galaxies at redshift 6 at a wavelength of one micron. What reionized the Universe, when did globular clusters form, were there very massive stars and how did they end, and how did supermassive black holes emerge a few hundred million years after the Big Bang ? These are some of the questions wide field high z surveys in the infrared will open to observational study.