7c1221f4_Staff_Research__Speaker_Title
[Date] Mar. 11 [Speaker/Title] 
Rob Simcoe (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Title: Heavy Element Enrichment in Early Intergalactic and Circumgalactic Environments Abstract: Infrared photometric surveys are discovering numerous quasars at z > 6.5, enabling absorption investigations of neutral Hydrogen and its associated heavy elements at the tail end of the reionization epoch. I will describe the status of my group's ongoing IR and optical spectroscopic surveys targeting metal pollution in the first few Gyr. Beginning with a systematic study of absorption candidates for "cold flows" at z~3, I will move on to describe a 100-sightline survey of circumgalactic MgII pollution with the Magellan/FIRE spectrometer, extending prior optical measurements (restricted to z<2) out to z~6.5. I will also describe our latest constraints on the CIV mass density and intergalactic carbon enrichment at z = 4.5-6.5. Finally, I will outline our first attempt at measuring actual chemical abundances in the z > 7 universe, and discuss their significance for reionization and the formation of the first stars. Host: Jason Tumlinson
Staff Research
Speaker/Title