Dust in the Reionization Era
Laura Sommovigo (CCA, Flatiron Institute)
Tuesday 27/05/2025 @ 14:00, Sala Antonio Sollima (IV piano Battiferro)
JWST, in combination with ALMA and NOEMA, is opening an unprecedented window into early galaxy formation—providing access to both continuum and line emission from the rest-frame UV to the FIR out to z ? 10, and spatially resolved information up to z ? 7. These data constrain the star formation histories, metallicities, and ISM conditions of galaxies in the first billion years of the age of the Universe. In this talk, I focus on the role of dust, from its attenuation and scattering in the rest-frame UV–optical to its re-emission in the FIR. Often treated as a nuisance and modeled with non-physical templates, dust is in fact central to interpreting galaxy observables across cosmic time. I present a framework for self-consistent dust modeling across wavelengths, combining analytic prescriptions with insights from hydrodynamical and radiative transfer simulations—including cosmological (TNG), zoom-in (SERRA), and isolated setups. I compare this in-progress model to recent JWST and ALMA/NOEMA data from large programs such as REBELS and CRISTAL-ALPINE, highlighting key challenges in reproducing galaxy observables across cosmic time, and outlining paths toward.