Cake Talk by Lily Whitler
The ages and star formation histories (SFHs) of reionization-era galaxies provide key insights into the evolution of galaxies within the first few hundred million years of cosmic time. Complementary to the direct constraints on galaxies at z ≳ 12 now enabled by JWST, galaxy SFHs at slightly lower redshifts can provide indirect insights into the formation and evolution of very early galaxies. In this talk, I will discuss insights gained from measuring the ages and SFHs of UV-bright galaxies at z ~ 7 identified over COSMOS with ground-based photometry, and provide a first look at new constraints on fainter galaxies at z ~ 8.5 - 11 identified in recent JWST imaging. I will then discuss the implications of these results for the z ≳ 12 progenitors of these z ~ 7 - 11 objects and future prospects for understanding galaxy ages and SFHs in the era of JWST.