Formation Of The First Galaxies

The emergence of the first stars and galaxies ended the cosmic dark ages, thus fundamentally transforming the simple initial state of the universe into one of ever increasing complexity. We will review the basic physics governing the formation of the first galaxies. Their properties sensitively depend on the feedback exerted by the first, Population III, stars, which in turn reflects how massive those stars were. The key goal is to derive their observational signature, to be probed with upcoming next-generation facilities, such as the James Webb Space Telescope.Astronom

The First Stars: A Low-Mass Formation Mode

We perform numerical simulations of the growth of a Population III stellar system under photodissociating feedback. We start from cosmological initial conditions at z = 100, self-consistently following the formation of a minihalo at z = 15 and the subsequent collapse of its central gas to high densities. The simulations resolve scales as small as ~ 1 AU, corresponding to gas densities of 10^16 cm^-3. Using sink particles to represent the growing protostars, we evolve the stellar system for the next 5000 years. We find that this emerging stellar group accretes at an unusually low rate compared with minihalos which form at earlier times (z = 20 - 30), or with lower baryonic angular momentum. The stars in this unusual system will likely reach masses ranging from < 1 M_sun to 5 M_sun by the end of their main-sequence lifetimes, placing them in the mass range for which stars will undergo an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase. Based upon the simulation, we predict the rare existence of Population III stars that have survived to the present day and have been enriched by mass overflow from a previous AGB companion.Comment: 19 pages, 17 figures, to apper in Ap

Detecting the Transition From Pop III to Pop II Stars

We discuss the cosmological significance of the transition from the Pop III to Pop II mode of star formation in the early universe, and when and how it may occur in primordial galaxies. Observations that could detect this transition include those of element abundances in metal-poor Galactic halo stars, and of the helium reionization and associated heating of the intergalactic medium. We suggest that gamma-ray bursts may be a better probe of the end of the first-stars epoch than of Pop III stars.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures; to appear in New Astronomy Reviews as proceedings of "First Light and Reionization Workshop", eds. A. Cooray & E. Barton, Irvine, CA, May 19-21, 200

Dwarf Spheroidal Satellite Formation in a Reionized Local Group

Dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies have emerged a powerful probe of small-scale dark matter clustering and of cosmic reionization. They exhibit structural and chemical continuity with dwarf irregular galaxies in the field and with spheroidal galaxies in high-density environments. By combining empirical constraints derived for star formation at low gas column densities and metallicities in the local universe with a model for dark matter and baryonic mass assembly, we provide an analytical description of how the dwarf spheroidals acquired their stellar content. Their progenitors formed stars until the gas content, initially reduced from the cosmic average by the thermal pressure of the reionized intergalactic medium, was finally ram pressure stripped during the progenitors' accretion on to the host galaxy. Dwarf spheroidal satellites of differing luminosities seem to share very similar most massive progenitor histories that reach thresholds for gas cooling by atomic line emission at epochs at which the Lagrangian volume of the Local Group should have been reionized. We hypothesize that dwarf spheroidals formed the bulk of their stars in partially rotationally supported HI disks in a reionized universe. This model provides an explanation for the "common mass scale" relation and reproduces the empirical luminosity-size and luminosity-metallicity relations. Explosive feedback phenomena, such as outflows driven by the concerted action of supernovae, need not have been significant in the dwarf spheroidals' formation. We further speculate that the true pre-reionization fossils should exhibit a structure distinct from that of the dwarf spheroidals, e.g., in the form of dense isolated or nuclear star clusters.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, MNRAS, in pres

The cooling of shock-compressed primordial gas

We find that at redshifts z > 10, HD line cooling allows strongly-shocked primordial gas to cool to the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). This temperature is the minimum value attainable via radiative cooling. Provided that the abundance of HD, normalized to the total number density, exceeds a critical level of ~ 10^{-8}, the CMB temperature floor is reached in a time which is short compared to the Hubble time. We estimate the characteristic masses of stars formed out of shocked primordial gas in the wake of the first supernovae, and resulting from the mergers of dark matter haloes during hierarchical structure formation to be ~ 10 M_{solar}. In addition, we show that cooling by HD enables the primordial gas in relic H II regions to cool to temperatures considerably lower than those reached via H_2 cooling alone. We confirm that HD cooling is unimportant in cases where the primordial gas does not go through an ionized phase, as in the formation process of the very first stars in z ~ 20 minihaloes of mass ~ 10^{6} M_{solar}.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS with minor revisions, new table adde