Volker Bromm

About

Volker Bromm is a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Texas, holding the Jane and Roland Blumberg Centennial Professorship in Astronomy and the Josey Centennial Professorship in Astronomy. His research focuses on the formation of the first stars and quasars, high-redshift supernovae and metal enrichment, supermassive black hole formation, gamma-ray bursts, reionization of the intergalactic medium, and present-day star formation, utilizing computational astrophysics. Bromm earned his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2000 and his M.Sc. from the University of Heidelberg in Germany in 1993. He has made significant contributions to understanding the formation of the first stars and galaxies, including the fragmentation of primordial gas, the primordial star-forming cloud, and the contribution of the first stars to the cosmic infrared background. Bromm has also explored the formation mechanisms of brown dwarfs, the expected redshift distribution of gamma-ray bursts, and the formation of the first supermassive black holes. His work is recognized through numerous awards, including the University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award in 2009, the College of Natural Sciences Teaching Excellence Award in 2008, and the Robert J. Trumpler Award in 2002.

Research topics

• Astronomy
• Astrophysics
• Physics

Selected publications

• CEERS Key Paper. I. An Early Look into the First 500 Myr of Galaxy Formation with JWST

  The Astrophysical Journal Letters · 2023 · 481 citations

  Abstract We present an investigation into the first 500 Myr of galaxy evolution from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. CEERS, one of 13 JWST ERS programs, targets galaxy formation from z ∼ 0.5 to >10 using several imaging and spectroscopic modes. We make use of the first epoch of CEERS NIRCam imaging, spanning 35.5 arcmin 2 , to search for candidate galaxies at z > 9. Following a detailed data reduction process implementing several custom steps to produce high-qual…

  DOI

• A CEERS Discovery of an Accreting Supermassive Black Hole 570 Myr after the Big Bang: Identifying a Progenitor of Massive z > 6 Quasars

  The Astrophysical Journal Letters · 2023 · 335 citations

  Abstract We report the discovery of an accreting supermassive black hole at z = 8.679. This galaxy, denoted here as CEERS_1019, was previously discovered as a Ly α -break galaxy by Hubble with a Ly α redshift from Keck. As part of the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey, we have observed this source with JWST/NIRSpec, MIRI, NIRCam, and NIRCam/WFSS and uncovered a plethora of emission lines. The H β line is best fit by a narrow plus a broad component, where the latter is measure…

  DOI

• A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: A Candidate z ∼ 12 Galaxy in Early JWST CEERS Imaging

  The Astrophysical Journal Letters · 2022 · 332 citations

  Abstract We report the discovery of a candidate galaxy with a photo- z of z ∼ 12 in the first epoch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey. Following conservative selection criteria, we identify a source with a robust z phot = <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>11.8</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:m…

  DOI

• Broad-line AGNs at 3.5 &lt; <i>z</i> &lt; 6: The Black Hole Mass Function and a Connection with Little Red Dots

  The Astrophysical Journal · 2025-06-16 · 71 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract We present a sample of 62 H α detected broad-line active galactic nuclei (BLAGNs) at redshifts 3.5 &lt; z &lt; 6.8 using data from the CEERS and RUBIES surveys. We select these sources directly from JWST/NIRSpec G395M/F290LP spectra. We use a multistep pre-selection and Bayesian fitting to ensure a high-quality sample of sources with broad Balmer lines and narrow forbidden lines. We compute rest-frame ultraviolet and optical spectral slopes for these objects, and determine that 21 BLAGN…

  PublisherDOI

• Formation of the First Stars and Black Holes

  Space Science Reviews · 2020 · 54 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  DOI

Recent grants

• Transport and Mixing of Metals during the First Billion Years

  NSF · $489k · 2010–2014

• Early Coevolution of Massive Black Holes and Stellar Systems in the First Galaxies

  NSF · $398k · 2007–2011

Frequent coauthors

• Naoki Yoshida

  The University of Tokyo

  114 shared

• Thomas H. Greif

  89 shared

• Ralf S. Klessen

  80 shared

• Simon C. O. Glover

  68 shared

• Daniel J. Whalen

  59 shared

• Abraham Loeb

  43 shared

• Boyuan Liu

  42 shared

• Daniel J. Whalen

  38 shared

Awards & honors

• The University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching…
• College of Natural Sciences Teaching Excellence Award (2008)
• Board of Visitors Teaching Excellence Award (2007)
• Space Telescop Science Institute Postdoctoral Prize Fellowsh…
• Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools Dissertation Aw…

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