Prestigious ERC Synergy Grant awarded to obtain a comprehensive view of the Universe in its infancy

ERC Synergy grant will fund researchers at MPA, the Observatories of Rome and Trieste in Italy, and Chalmers in Sweden to unravel the complexity of the Epoch of Reionization.

Leveraging highly complementary theoretical and observational expertise, the newly funded RECAP project will allow scientists to have a multi-frequency view of the first galaxies and their environment, and to build a coherent picture of galaxy formation and evolution during the Epoch of Reionization.

The Epoch of Reionization marks the Universe’s last major phase transition, during which the neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium became ionized by radiation from the first cosmic sources. Understanding the onset, timeline, and topology of the Reionization process is essential for deciphering what shaped the evolution of the Universe, from an early, uniform matter distribution to the diverse structures observed today.

The REionization Complementary Approach Project (RECAP) now being funded by an ERC synergy grant will provide unprecedented insights into this transformative cosmic period through a unique collaborative effort which brings together a team of four internationally recognized scientists with diverse and complementary expertise.

Dr. Benedetta Ciardi's group at MPA will drive the theoretical side of the project, designing and running a state-of-the-art suite of multi-scale hydrodynamical simulations to support the interpretation of the unparalleled datasets available to RECAP. These will be contributed by co-investigators Dr. Laura Pentericci (Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Italy), Dr. Valentina D’Odorico (Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Italy), and Dr. Kirsten Knudsen (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden) thanks to their prominent role in cutting-edge observational facilities, including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the Very Large Telescope (VLT), and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA).

“Despite the abundance of simulations of galaxy formation and reionization, none is suited to interpret the vast and varied data on high-redshift objects collected in recent years,” said Dr. Ciardi. “RECAP will allow us to design a unique suite of multi-scale simulations to cohesively interpret our superb multi-frequency data, creating a comprehensive framework for this early cosmic epoch.”

Dr. Ciardi obtained her PhD in 2001 from the University of Florence and has been a research group leader at MPA since 2005. Her academic achievements have been recognized with prestigious awards, including the Marie Curie Excellence Award in 2005 and her appointment as Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2010.

The highly competitive ERC Synergy Grant is a testament to the PIs’ scientific achievements and the potential of RECAP to transform our understanding of cosmic evolution. This funding will enable the team to address longstanding questions about the Universe’s formative epochs, illuminating the intricate interplay between ionizing sources and their environments. With a funding of about 10 million Euros for the next six years, the team will enlarge their group with new PhD students and postdocs (some at MPA) as well as computing resources.