RISEandFALL - The rise and fall of galaxies in the early Universe
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
Understanding the nature of the very first galaxies and the physical processes responsible for the build up of their stellar mass and chemical enrichment, as well as their subsequent decline in terms of star formation, are some of the ultimate goals of extragalactic astrophysics. This project will primarily exploit access to two forthcoming, cutting-edge observing facilities, the James Webb Space Telescope and the MOONS spectrograph on the Very Large Telescope, as well as data from the Atacama Large (sub-)Millimetre Array, to achieve an unprecedented leap forward on these topics. The project is divided in two main parts: the first one investigating galaxies in their infancy and their rapid growth and chemical enrichment during the early cosmic epochs; the second part will investigate the competing processes that quench star formation resulting in the emergence of passive systems. Understanding the 'Rise and Fall' of galaxies across the cosmic epochs is a vast area of research. The proposal will focus on the following, ambitious goals: 1) identify and reveal the nature of the first population of galaxies and of their black hole seeds; 2) determine the early evolution of the stellar mass growth and associated chemical enrichment to constrain the primary galaxy evolutionary mechanisms in the early Universe; 3) determine the primary processes responsible for quenching star formation in galaxies across the cosmic epochs.
Organisations
- University of Cambridge (Lead Research Organisation)
- National Research Council of Canada (Collaboration)
- Leiden University (Collaboration)
- Max Planck Society (Collaboration)
- University of Oxford (Collaboration)
- European Space Agency (Collaboration)
- Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) (Collaboration)
- Paris Institute of Astrophysics (Collaboration)
Publications
PƩrez-GonzƔlez P
(2024)
Feedback mechanisms stopping the star formation in a pair of massive galaxies in the early Universe
D'Eugenio F
(2025)
JADES Data Release 3: NIRSpec/Microshutter Assembly Spectroscopy for 4000 Galaxies in the GOODS Fields
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Siebert M
(2024)
Discovery of a Relativistic Stripped-envelope Type Ic-BL Supernova at z = 2.83 with JWST
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Nelson E
(2024)
Ionized Gas Kinematics with FRESCO: An Extended, Massive, Rapidly Rotating Galaxy at z = 5.4
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Inayoshi K
(2025)
Extremely Dense Gas around Little Red Dots and High-redshift Active Galactic Nuclei: A Nonstellar Origin of the Balmer Break and Absorption Features
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Pierel J
(2024)
Discovery of an Apparent Red, High-velocity Type Ia Supernova at z = 2.9 with JWST
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Dou J
(2024)
The H i Reservoir in Central Spiral Galaxies and the Implied Star Formation Process *
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Alberts S
(2024)
To High Redshift and Low Mass: Exploring the Emergence of Quenched Galaxies and Their Environments at 3 < z < 6 in the Ultra-deep JADES MIRI F770W Parallel
in The Astrophysical Journal
Gao Z
(2025)
From Halos to Galaxies. X. Decoding Galaxy SEDs with Physical Priors and Accurate Star Formation History Reconstruction
in The Astrophysical Journal
Helton J
(2024)
Identification of High-redshift Galaxy Overdensities in GOODS-N and GOODS-S
in The Astrophysical Journal
Williams C
(2024)
The Galaxies Missed by Hubble and ALMA: The Contribution of Extremely Red Galaxies to the Cosmic Census at 3 < z < 8
in The Astrophysical Journal
Robertson B
(2024)
Earliest Galaxies in the JADES Origins Field: Luminosity Function and Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density 300 Myr after the Big Bang
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lyu C
(2024)
From Halos to Galaxies. IX. Estimate of Halo Assembly History for SDSS Galaxy Groups
in The Astrophysical Journal
Ji Z
(2024)
JADES + JEMS: A Detailed Look at the Buildup of Central Stellar Cores and Suppression of Star Formation in Galaxies at Redshifts 3 < z < 4.5
in The Astrophysical Journal
Zhao D
(2025)
From Halos to Galaxies. VI. Improved Halo Mass Estimation for SDSS Groups and Measurement of the Halo Mass Function
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hainline K
(2024)
The Cosmos in Its Infancy: JADES Galaxy Candidates at z > 8 in GOODS-S and GOODS-N
in The Astrophysical Journal
Fei Q
(2025)
Assessing the Dark Matter Content of Two Quasar Host Galaxies at z ~ 6 through Gas Kinematics
in The Astrophysical Journal
DeCoursey C
(2025)
The JADES Transient Survey: Discovery and Classification of Supernovae in the JADES Deep Field
in The Astrophysical Journal
Gibson J
(2024)
JADES Ultrared Flattened Objects: Morphologies and Spatial Gradients in Color and Stellar Populations
in The Astrophysical Journal
Hainline K
(2024)
Searching for Emission Lines at z > 11: The Role of Damped Lya and Hints About the Escape of Ionizing Photons
in The Astrophysical Journal
Schneider R
(2024)
The formation and cosmic evolution of dust in the early Universe: I. Dust sources
in The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review
D'Eugenio F
(2024)
A fast-rotator post-starburst galaxy quenched by supermassive black-hole feedback at z = 3
in Nature Astronomy
Baker W
(2024)
A core in a star-forming disc as evidence of inside-out growth in the early Universe
in Nature Astronomy
Maiolino R
(2024)
Author Correction: A small and vigorous black hole in the early Universe
in Nature
Carniani S
(2024)
Spectroscopic confirmation of two luminous galaxies at a redshift of 14
in Nature
Juodžbalis I
(2024)
A dormant overmassive black hole in the early Universe
in Nature
McClymont W
(2024)
The nature of diffuse ionized gas in star-forming galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ćbler H
(2024)
GA-NIFS: JWST discovers an offset AGN 740 million years after the big bang
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Endsley R
(2024)
The star-forming and ionizing properties of dwarf z ~ 6-9 galaxies in JADES: insights on bursty star formation and ionized bubble growth
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Baker W
(2024)
Different regulation of stellar metallicities between star-forming and quiescent galaxies - insights into galaxy quenching
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tang M
(2024)
Lya emission in galaxies at z ? 5-6: new insight from JWST into the statistical distributions of Lya properties at the end of reionization
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Vallini L
(2024)
Spatially resolved Kennicutt-Schmidt relation at z Ė 7 and its connection with the interstellar medium properties
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Goubert P
(2024)
The role of environment and AGN feedback in quenching local galaxies: comparing cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to the SDSS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lim S
(2024)
The FLAMINGO simulation view of cluster progenitors observed in the epoch of reionization with JWST
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ji X
(2024)
GA-NIFS: an extremely nitrogen-loud and chemically stratified galaxy at z ~ 5.55
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ćbler H
(2024)
GA-NIFS: NIRSpec reveals evidence for non-circular motions and AGN feedback in GN20
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Marconcini C
(2024)
GA-NIFS: the interplay between merger, star formation, and chemical enrichment in MACS1149-JD1 at z = 9.11 with JWST/NIRSpec
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wan J
(2024)
Stochastic prior for non-parametric star-formation histories
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Looser T
(2024)
The stellar fundamental metallicity relation: the correlation between stellar mass, star formation rate, and stellar metallicity
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
D'Eugenio F
(2024)
The hyperplane of early-type galaxies: using stellar population properties to increase the precision and accuracy of the fundamental plane as a distance indicator
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Simmonds C
(2024)
Ionizing properties of galaxies in JADES for a stellar mass complete sample: resolving the cosmic ionizing photon budget crisis at the Epoch of Reionization
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Witten C
(2025)
Rising from the ashes: evidence of old stellar populations and rejuvenation events in the very early Universe
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Juodžbalis I
(2024)
JADES - the Rosetta stone of JWST -discovered AGN: deciphering the intriguing nature of early AGN
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Topping M
(2024)
The UV continuum slopes of early star-forming galaxies in JADES
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Witstok J
(2025)
JADES: primaeval Lyman a emitting galaxies reveal early sites of reionization out to redshift z ~ 9
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
D'Odorico V
(2024)
Galaxy formation and symbiotic evolution with the inter-galactic medium in the age of ELT-ANDES
in Experimental Astronomy
| Description | JWST-NIRSpec Instrument Science Team |
| Organisation | European Space Agency |
| Department | European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Coordination and planning of the NIRSpec GTO survey trough simulations and tradeoff analysis Identification of the primary science cases and of their requirements Coordinator of the JADES and WIDE Multi-Object surveys Co-leadership of the IFS survey Development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Membership of the JWST Science Working Group Contribution to the laboratory testing |
| Collaborator Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Simulations and development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Development of the commissioning plans, tools for data processing, simulations Definition of science readiness criteria Laboratory testing and performance verification of the instrument |
| Impact | NIRSpec instrument design and definition of its observing modes Characterisation of the instrument and laboratory tests GTO surveys plan and submission for scheduling End-to-end simulations of the various observing modes and various observing strategies Tools for the data processing and data analysis |
| Description | JWST-NIRSpec Instrument Science Team |
| Organisation | Leiden University |
| Department | Leiden Observatory |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Coordination and planning of the NIRSpec GTO survey trough simulations and tradeoff analysis Identification of the primary science cases and of their requirements Coordinator of the JADES and WIDE Multi-Object surveys Co-leadership of the IFS survey Development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Membership of the JWST Science Working Group Contribution to the laboratory testing |
| Collaborator Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Simulations and development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Development of the commissioning plans, tools for data processing, simulations Definition of science readiness criteria Laboratory testing and performance verification of the instrument |
| Impact | NIRSpec instrument design and definition of its observing modes Characterisation of the instrument and laboratory tests GTO surveys plan and submission for scheduling End-to-end simulations of the various observing modes and various observing strategies Tools for the data processing and data analysis |
| Description | JWST-NIRSpec Instrument Science Team |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute for Astronomy |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Coordination and planning of the NIRSpec GTO survey trough simulations and tradeoff analysis Identification of the primary science cases and of their requirements Coordinator of the JADES and WIDE Multi-Object surveys Co-leadership of the IFS survey Development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Membership of the JWST Science Working Group Contribution to the laboratory testing |
| Collaborator Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Simulations and development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Development of the commissioning plans, tools for data processing, simulations Definition of science readiness criteria Laboratory testing and performance verification of the instrument |
| Impact | NIRSpec instrument design and definition of its observing modes Characterisation of the instrument and laboratory tests GTO surveys plan and submission for scheduling End-to-end simulations of the various observing modes and various observing strategies Tools for the data processing and data analysis |
| Description | JWST-NIRSpec Instrument Science Team |
| Organisation | National Research Council of Canada |
| Country | Canada |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Coordination and planning of the NIRSpec GTO survey trough simulations and tradeoff analysis Identification of the primary science cases and of their requirements Coordinator of the JADES and WIDE Multi-Object surveys Co-leadership of the IFS survey Development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Membership of the JWST Science Working Group Contribution to the laboratory testing |
| Collaborator Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Simulations and development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Development of the commissioning plans, tools for data processing, simulations Definition of science readiness criteria Laboratory testing and performance verification of the instrument |
| Impact | NIRSpec instrument design and definition of its observing modes Characterisation of the instrument and laboratory tests GTO surveys plan and submission for scheduling End-to-end simulations of the various observing modes and various observing strategies Tools for the data processing and data analysis |
| Description | JWST-NIRSpec Instrument Science Team |
| Organisation | Paris Institute of Astrophysics |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Coordination and planning of the NIRSpec GTO survey trough simulations and tradeoff analysis Identification of the primary science cases and of their requirements Coordinator of the JADES and WIDE Multi-Object surveys Co-leadership of the IFS survey Development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Membership of the JWST Science Working Group Contribution to the laboratory testing |
| Collaborator Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Simulations and development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Development of the commissioning plans, tools for data processing, simulations Definition of science readiness criteria Laboratory testing and performance verification of the instrument |
| Impact | NIRSpec instrument design and definition of its observing modes Characterisation of the instrument and laboratory tests GTO surveys plan and submission for scheduling End-to-end simulations of the various observing modes and various observing strategies Tools for the data processing and data analysis |
| Description | JWST-NIRSpec Instrument Science Team |
| Organisation | Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) |
| Country | Spain |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Coordination and planning of the NIRSpec GTO survey trough simulations and tradeoff analysis Identification of the primary science cases and of their requirements Coordinator of the JADES and WIDE Multi-Object surveys Co-leadership of the IFS survey Development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Membership of the JWST Science Working Group Contribution to the laboratory testing |
| Collaborator Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Simulations and development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Development of the commissioning plans, tools for data processing, simulations Definition of science readiness criteria Laboratory testing and performance verification of the instrument |
| Impact | NIRSpec instrument design and definition of its observing modes Characterisation of the instrument and laboratory tests GTO surveys plan and submission for scheduling End-to-end simulations of the various observing modes and various observing strategies Tools for the data processing and data analysis |
| Description | JWST-NIRSpec Instrument Science Team |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Department of Physics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Coordination and planning of the NIRSpec GTO survey trough simulations and tradeoff analysis Identification of the primary science cases and of their requirements Coordinator of the JADES and WIDE Multi-Object surveys Co-leadership of the IFS survey Development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Membership of the JWST Science Working Group Contribution to the laboratory testing |
| Collaborator Contribution | Contribution to the design and observing strategies of the instrument Simulations and development of tools for the processing and analysis of the data Development of the commissioning plans, tools for data processing, simulations Definition of science readiness criteria Laboratory testing and performance verification of the instrument |
| Impact | NIRSpec instrument design and definition of its observing modes Characterisation of the instrument and laboratory tests GTO surveys plan and submission for scheduling End-to-end simulations of the various observing modes and various observing strategies Tools for the data processing and data analysis |