Deciphering the Early Universe: From Photons to Publications
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has provided many unexpected and mysterious observations from the early Universe. Ancient galaxies appear to be too big and exhibit structure that was expected to only appear later in the history of the Universe. Early black holes much larger than expected have been spotted and how they could have formed so fast is unknown. The discrepancy in the expansion rate of the Universe measured using different techniques has only become sharper with better data and a resolution seems further away rather than closer. We have lots of new clues but astronomers, astrophysicists, and cosmologists have been struggling to create a coherent story. A week from tomorrow, on Monday, April 21st, Dr Brandon Matthews will share some of his experiences collecting and working to understand data from the Universe's distant past. His description of his presentation is below.
When you look at an image from the James Webb Space Telescope, you're seeing more than just a picture. You're looking at the end result of billions of photons filtered, counted, and interpreted by astronomers. But how do we know what we’re looking at when an object is just a speck on an image or the raw data are just lines, spikes, and dots? In this talk, I'll explore how astronomers decode the distant cosmos using spectroscopy and photometry guided by theoretical models and the mechanics of quantum physics. I'll focus on the latest JWST observations of extremely high-redshift galaxies and examine how we identify these objects and estimate their key properties -- often from just a faint signal buried in noise. This is an insight into the process of how light becomes knowledge, and how some of the most distant galaxies ever seen are recognized not by their appearance, but by their physical signatures.
About Dr Brandon Matthews
Brandon Matthews holds a PhD in physics, where his research focused on high-redshift quasars using data from observatories such as Gemini North, Chandra, and ALMA. His interests lie in understanding the most extreme objects in the universe and exploring how early structure led to the massive galaxies we observe today. Passionate about science communication and public engagement, he regularly volunteers at astronomy outreach events and enjoys sharing the tools and techniques astronomers use to make sense of the universe.