Detecting the Signature of the First Stars through Planck CMB Polarization Observation

We present the first simulations of cosmic reionization that include the first stars and their radiative feedback that limited their formation, in a volume large enough to capture the spatial variations that affected the process and its observability. We show hat these first stars made reionization begin much earlier than without, and was reatly extended, which boosts the intergalactic electron-scattering optical depth and the large-angle polarization fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) significantly. Although within current WMAP uncertainties, this will enable Planck see he signature of the first stars at high redshift, currently undetectable by other probes.