Today's Colloquium: Shedding new light on star formation in the early Universe

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Clik here to view.© Jacqueline Hodge

Studies of star formation in the distant universe have made substantial progress over the last decade. While the initial progress relied largely on deep fields in the rest-frame optical and UV, the advent of new radio/millimeter telescopes is allowing dramatic advances in our understanding of the molecular gas and dust-obscured star formation in distant galaxies. I will present recent progress in detecting and mapping the star-forming

interstellar medium and dusty star formation in high-redshift galaxies, including a detailed case study of a z~4 submillimeter galaxy. I will then discuss our current efforts with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to expand the sample size beyond one. I will end with a discussion of future prospects for using such long-wavelength studies to understand the nature of high-redshift star formation and, consequently, how today’s galaxy population developed through cosmic time.