Should we just give up? Continuing the search for the Epoch of Reionization - Dr Emma Chapman (University of Nottingham)

The Epoch of Reionization (EoR) follows the end of the Dark Ages of the Universe and signals the birth of the first stars. The aim of the current generation of radio telescopes is to make the first statistical detection of this epoch, covering 400 million - 1 billion years after the Big Bang. For the next generation Square Kilometre array, we will have an order of magnitude improved sensitivity and can pursue imaging over this time. However, foregrounds cover the cosmological data by several orders of magnitude, and their removal remains a significant challenge. I will give some background on the first stars field as it stands in the JWST era, and then speak broadly about the foreground mitigation techniques currently in use on radio-EoR data. 

Bio: Dr Emma Chapman is a Royal Society research fellow and proleptic lecturer based at the University of Nottingham, where she leads the outreach for the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Her career has involved the search for signals from the first stars, born 13 billion years ago. She is a member of the LOFAR Epoch of Reionization team and is active in the UK-SKA community. Emma released her first popular science book in 2020, ‘First Light’, and has been the recipient of multiple commendations and prizes, including the Royal Society Athena Medal for her work on preventing sexual harassment.