REVISITING THE FIRST GALAXIES: THE EPOCH OF POPULATION III STARS

Journal Article · Sat Aug 10 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/773/1/19· OSTI ID:22140302

Muratov, Alexander L.; Gnedin, Oleg Y.; Zemp, Marcel ^[1]

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1. Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)

We investigate the transition from primordial Population III (Pop III) star formation to normal Pop II star formation in the first galaxies using new cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. We find that while the first stars seed their host galaxies with metals, they cannot sustain significant outflows to enrich the intergalactic medium, even assuming a top-heavy initial mass function. This means that Pop III star formation could potentially continue until z Almost-Equal-To 6 in different unenriched regions of the universe, before being ultimately shut off by cosmic reionization. Within an individual galaxy, the metal production and stellar feedback from Pop II stars overtake Pop III stars in 20-200 Myr, depending on galaxy mass.

• OSTI ID: 22140302
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 773, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COSMOLOGY
EVOLUTION
FEEDBACK
GALAXIES
HYDRODYNAMICS
MASS
METALS
SIMULATION
STARS
UNIVERSE