Paper 14145-48
Paper 14145-48
The Reionization Explorer, REX
7 July 2026 • 15:50 - 16:10 CEST | Room B4-M3
Abstract
The Reionization Explorer, REX, is a mission concept to map the progress of cosmological reionization using the interaction of (redshifted) Lyman alpha light with intergalactic gas.
REX will use a wide-area near infrared camera with unique narrow-bandpass filters to identify the youngest, most actively star forming galaxies at cosmic dawn through Lyman alpha line emission.
Lyman alpha is the strongest emission line of hydrogen, and is resonantly scattered by neutral hydrogen. REX will map neutral and ionized intergalactic gas through the spatial distribution of Lyman alpha sources.
REX's baseline survey is 100 deg^2 in eight narrowband filters with central wavelengths from 0.97 to 1.46 microns, corresponding to redshifts 7-11 for Lyman alpha. This survey will have many other applications, including time domain astrophysics, galaxy evolution, interstellar medium studies, and outer solar system bodies. Still more is possible by using REX hardware for additional observations.
Presenter
NASA Goddard Space Flight Ctr. (United States)
James Rhoads is an astrophysicist with interests in galaxy formation and evolution, cosmological reionization, gamma ray bursts, among other topics. He is currently a Research Astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and was previously a full professor at Arizona State University. His NASA roles have included Instrument Scientist for the Wide Field Instrument on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and NASA Project Scientist for ULTRASAT. The REX concept is a natural development of a 25 year track record of narrowband Lyman alpha galaxy studies in collaboration with Dr. Sangeeta Malhotra.