"Revealing the Birth of the First Galaxies"

Dr. Ke-Jung Chen and a research team have used high-resolution simulations to reveal that the properties of the first galaxies are determined by the masses of the first stars. The injection of radiation, metals, and mass from these stars and their supernovae triggers a transformative process, evolving the simple early universe into a state of increasing complexity. The first galaxies exhibit irregular shapes without rotational support and have been enriched to about 0.01 solar metallicity. This finding provides valuable insights into the physics of the cosmic dawn and is significant for upcoming telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope.