Institute for Advanced Study/Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

The first billion years is a pivotal time for cosmic structure formation. The galaxies and black holes that form then shape and influence all future generations of stars and black holes. Understanding and detecting the the first galaxies and black holes is therefore one of the main observational and theoretical challenges in galaxy formation. I will discuss predictions for the first quasars and their host galaxies in the BlueTides simulation. BlueTides is a uniquely large volume and high resolution simulation which resolves the scales relevant for the high-z universe which will be investigated with the next generation telescopes (Euclid, JWST and WFIRST).