DR. SWARA RAVINDRANATH

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will revolutionize our views of the reionization epoch through its unprecedented imaging and spectroscopic capabilities. One of the key science goals that JWST will address is the nature of the sources responsible for reionization of the Universe. The predominantly neutral intergalactic medium at high redshift poses new challenges to the use of conventional methods to quantify the escape fraction of ionizing radiation. The speaker will present recent advances in identifying UV-optical spectral diagnostics that can be used to explore the physical properties of the ionizers. Some of the early JWST observations will apply these new diagnostics to obtain a comprehensive view of the galaxies and their environments, and to quantify the contribution from star-forming galaxies and active nuclei to the process of reionization.