Steve Furlanetto: Research

Research Interests:
Helium Reionization

Just as with hydrogen, helium is also reionized. The first electron is (probably) ionized along with hydrogen, but the second is much more closely bound and so must await the formation of sources producing higher energy photons - most likely quasars. We believe that helium was fully reionized at z~3, or about 2 billion years after the Big Bang. I am interested in using the existing data on helium reionization to understand the quasar population and IGM better, and as an analog for hydrogen reionization at higher redshifts.