Exploring the direct connections between galaxies and the intergalactic gas back to the reionization era

To achieve this key goal, EIGER carries out deep and complete surveys with JWST for emission-line galaxies in the fields of high-redshift luminous quasars, where we can learn the state of the intervening gaseous material along the lines of sight using the quasars' deep high-resolution spectra. The primary science goals include

  • Reionization and the roles of galaxies
  • The identification of the host systems of metal absorber and the state of the CGM
  • The nature of the host galaxies and environments of the earliest quasars
  • The blackhole masses and systemic redshifts of the earliest quasars

Recent news & History

June 2024
All the EIGER observations (originally planned in Cycle1) in the six quasar fields have been completed.
May 2024
Paper V (Yue+; Characterizing the Host Galaxies of Luminous Quasars at z ≳ 6) has been published in ApJ. [ads]
March 2024
Paper VI (Eilers+; The Correlation Function, Host Halo Mass and Duty Cycle of Luminous Quasars at z≳6) shows up on arXiv.
February 2024
Paper IV (Bordoloi+; The Cool 10^4 K Circumgalactic Environment of High-redshift Galaxies Reveals Remarkably Efficient Intergalactic Medium Enrichment) has been published in ApJ. [ads]
December 2023
The Physics World magazine selected EIGER results as a Top 10 breakthrough of the Year for 2023. Link
September 2023
Paper V (Yue+), detecting host galaxies of z~6 luminous quasars, shows up on arXiv.
July 2023
Paper IV (Bordoloi+), studying the properties of MgII absorbers across time, shows up on arXiv.
June 2023
Press release from NASA/STScI: "JWST Proves Galaxies Transformed the Early Universe"
June 2023
EIGER Paper I, II, & III have been published in ApJ.
June 2023
A new EIGER-related paper (Matthee+) shows up on arXiv, providing the identification of lots of Little Red Dots showing AGN features.
December 2022
This EIGER website launched.
November 2022
Paper III (Eilers et al.), studying the SMBH properties, shows up on arXiv.
November 2022
Two first papers show up on arXiv. Go to Paper I (Kashino et al.; survey outline, a sample of [OIII]-emitters, and evidence of local reionization aroung galaxies) and Paper II (Matthee et al.; detailed study of physical properties of [OIII]-emitters and luminosity functions).
August 2022
The observation of the field of QSO J0100+2802 completed.