Massimo Ricotti
Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland
The Origin of Old Globular Clusters and Ultra-faint Dwarf Galaxies and Implications on the Reionization Epoch
I will describe my research on galaxy formation before the epoch of reionization, focusing on understanding what determines the size and morphology of stellar objects in the first low mass galaxies, using parsec-scale cosmological simulations performed with an adaptive mesh hydrodynamics code. Globular clusters and a recently discovered population of ultra-faint dwarf galaxies are among the oldest objects in the universe. I will argue that, although their appearance is very different today, they may have common origins at formation. I will discuss the consequences for reionization of the intergalactic medium and near-field cosmology.