We are pleased to announce a Kavli Science Focus Meeting, Galaxies and the 21-cm Frontier: Unveiling the Epoch of Reionization, on 6-7 May 2026 in the Martin Ryle Seminar Room at KICC.
During the Epoch of Reionization, the earliest luminous sources – stars and active galactic nuclei in galaxies – formed and began emitting energetic radiation that reionized the intergalactic medium (IGM). To gain a complete understanding of the reionization process, it is crucial to simultaneously study the reionizing IGM via the 21-cm line of neutral hydrogen, alongside the ionizing sources via the rest-frame UV and optical emission of the earliest galaxies and AGNs. Efforts to understand reionization from the perspectives of early galaxy evolution and 21-cm cosmology have matured significantly in recent years with the continued operation and development of observational facilities, but have largely proceeded independently of one another. This focus meeting will seek to build bridges and facilitate research partnerships between experts in these areas to maximize future prospects for understanding the reionization era, exploring science themes including (but not limited to):
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Understanding the ionizing sources that drove reionization
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Probing the reionizing IGM with the redshifted 21-cm line of neutral hydrogen
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Informing reionization models with 21-cm cosmology and galaxy observations, and predicting observables
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Leveraging observational synergies between early galaxies and 21-cm cosmology: joint constraints and cross-correlations
If you are interested in contributing a talk to the meeting, please fill out the form at this link no later than 8 April: https://forms.gle/7P6kVpt8ZYUXTQuL8. We expect to make decisions on abstracts no later than 15 April. If you are interested in simply attending the meeting, please register at the same link no later than 24 April.
Invited speakers: Phil Bull (University of Manchester), Richard Ellis (UCL), Ilian Iliev (University of Sussex)
Organizers: Jiten Dhandha, Anastasia Fialkov, Gareth Jones, Peter Sims, Sandro Tacchella, Lily Whitler
