The Gamow Explorer: A Gamma-Ray Burst Mission to Study the High Redshift
  Universe
  Long Gamma Ray Bursts (LGRBs) can be used to address key questions on the
formation of the modern universe including: How does the star formation rate
evolve at high redshift? When and how did the intergalactic medium become
re-ionized? What processes governed its early chemical enrichment? A LGRB
signals when a massive star collapses to form a black hole and in doing so
provides an independent tracer of the star formation rate. The LGRB afterglow
is a bright back-light to view the host galaxy and intergalactic medium in
absorption. The Gamow Explorer will be optimized to search for high redshift
LGRBs, with a z>6 detection rate at least ten times the Neil Gehrels Swift
Observatory. Furthermore it will go beyond Swift by using the photo-z technique
to autonomously identify >80% of z>6 redshift LGRBs to enable rapid follow up
by large ground based telescopes and JWST for spectroscopy and host galaxy
identification. The Gamow Explorer will be proposed to the 2021 NASA MIDEX
opportunity for launch in 2028.
