Revisiting The First Galaxies: The epoch of Population III stars

Journal Article · Fri Jul 19 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/773/1/19· OSTI ID:1419022

Muratov, Alexander L. ^[1]; Gnedin, Oleg Y. ^[1]; Gnedin, Nickolay Y. ^[2]; Zemp, Marcel ^[3]

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1. U. Michigan, Dept. Astron.
2. Chicago U., Astron. Astrophys. Ctr.
3. Beijing, KITPC

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 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.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 1419022
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB-13-290-A; arXiv:1212.1157; 1205805
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 773, Issue 1; ISSN 0004-637X
• Publisher: Institute of Physics (IOP)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS