Early universe articles from across Nature Portfolio

JWST has found an unexpectedly high density of AGNs at early times, raising the possibility that AGNs may have provided sufficient numbers of ionizing photons for cosmic reionization. New results definitively rule out AGNs as the dominant source of reionization.

Observed 730 Myr after the Big Bang, a little red dot is found to anchor an overdensity of eight galaxies and seems to be embedded in a massive host dark matter halo.

Dense gas clumps from the time of the formation of the first stars in the Universe should affect the average intensity of radio waves on the sky. Numerical simulations show that this offers a new way to probe the nature of dark matter.

JWST data reveal a multi-galaxy merger 800 Myr after the Big Bang, likely a progenitor of massive quiescent galaxies seen at later times. Its extended [O iii] halo offers direct evidence of early metal enrichment via tidal stripping.

Two high-redshift post-starburst galaxies are in the process of quenching, although their quasars remain active, indicating the complex co-evolution between black hole activity and star formation.

The infrared view of JWST has opened up the early Universe to study. This Perspective summarizes the key developments in our understanding of the high-redshift Universe from the first 18 months of JWST observations.

Two new studies provide potential evidence for the formation of the unexpectedly bright and massive galaxy populations that have been detected with JWST in the early Universe.

An analysis of two post-starburst galaxies at high redshift indicates the presence of ongoing feedback between the stellar material and the supermassive black hole.

A conference at the International Academic Forum of Heidelberg University, Germany, brought together 80 experts across various disciplines to recount recent breakthroughs in extragalactic astrophysics and ask, where are you going, galaxy evolution?

Morphology and dynamics probe early galaxy formation. Contrary to previous understanding that early galaxies comprise smooth structures, high-resolution observations combined with gravitational lensing reveal at least 15 star-forming clumps within a rotating galaxy from 900 million years after the Big Bang. These observations challenge current theories of early galaxy formation.