AAS 195th Meeting, January 2000
Session 129. Formation and Distribution of Galaxies
Oral, Saturday, January 15, 2000, 2:00-3:30pm, Regency VI

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[129.02] Observational Signatures of the First Luminous Objects

S.P. Oh (Princeton)

I discuss observational signatures of the first stars and quasars that will be detectable by the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). Beyond the epoch of reionization, the intergalactic medium is optically thick to the Lyman-alpha line. However, Balmer emission lines are much less affected by resonant scattering and dust and may be detected out to high redshift. Furthermore, the first sources may be detected in both thermal and non-thermal emission. I discuss detection rates for these signals by the SKA and the constraints that can be placed on early magnetic fields by the detection of non-thermal emission. Finally, due to the Gunn-Peterson effect, the Lyman-alpha forest will not be visible prior to reionization. I discuss the use of 21cm absorption in the spectra of radio loud quasars to detect damped Lyman-alpha systems during this epoch.


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