67 research outputs found
Low-Mass Relics of Early Star Formation
The earliest stars to form in the Universe were the first sources of light,
heat and metals after the Big Bang. The products of their evolution will have
had a profound impact on subsequent generations of stars. Recent studies of
primordial star formation have shown that, in the absence of metals (elements
heavier than helium), the formation of stars with masses 100 times that of the
Sun would have been strongly favoured, and that low-mass stars could not have
formed before a minimum level of metal enrichment had been reached. The value
of this minimum level is very uncertain, but is likely to be between 10^{-6}
and 10^{-4} that of the Sun. Here we show that the recent discovery of the most
iron-poor star known indicates the presence of dust in extremely
low-metallicity gas, and that this dust is crucial for the formation of
lower-mass second-generation stars that could survive until today. The dust
provides a pathway for cooling the gas that leads to fragmentation of the
precursor molecular cloud into smaller clumps, which become the lower-mass
stars.Comment: Offprint of Nature 422 (2003), 869-871 (issue 24 April 2003
Formation History of Metal-Poor Halo Stars with Hierarchical Model and the Effect of ISM accretion on the Most Metal-Poor Stars
We investigate the star formation and chemical evolution in the early
universe by considering the merging history of the Galaxy in the {\Lambda}CDM
scenario according to the extended Press-Schechter theory. We give some
possible constraints from comparisons with observation of extremely metal-poor
(EMP) stars. We demonstrate that (1) The hierarchical structure formation can
explain the characteristics of the observed metallicity distribution function
(MDF) including a break around [Fe/H]~-4. (2) A high mass IMF of peak mass
~10Msun with the contribution of binaries, derived from the statistics of
carbon enhanced EMP stars (Komiya et al. 2007), predicts the frequency of
low-mass survivors consistent with the number of EMP stars observed for
-4~<[Fe/H]~<-2.5. (3) The stars formed from primordial gas before the first
supernova explosions in their host mini-halos are assigned to the HMP stars
with [Fe/H]~-5. (4) There is no indication of significant changes in the IMF
and the binary contribution at metallicity -4~<[Fe/H]~<-2.5, or even larger as
long as the field stars of Galactic halo are concerned. We further study the
effects of the surface pollution through the accretion of ISM along the
chemical and dynamical evolution of the Galaxy for low-mass Pop.III and EMP
survivors. Because of shallower potential of smaller halos, the accretion of
ISM in the mini-halos in which these stars were born dominates the surface
metal pollution. This can account for the surface iron abundances as observed
for the HMP stars if the cooling and concentration of gas in their birth
mini-halos is taken into account. We also study the feedback effect from the
very massive Pop. III stars. The metal pre-pollution by PISNe is shown to be
compatible with the observed lack of their nucleosynthetic signatures when some
positive feedback on gas cooling works and changes IMF from being very massive
to being high mass.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures. ApJ accepte
Observing H2 Emission in Forming Galaxies
We study the H2 cooling emission of forming galaxies, and discuss their
observability using the future infrared facility SAFIR. Forming galaxies with
mass >10^11 Msun emit most of their gravitational energy liberated by
contraction in molecular hydrogen line radiation, although a large part of
thermal energy at virialization is radiated away by the H Ly alpha emission.
For more massive objects, the degree of heating due to dissipation of kinetic
energy is so great that the temperature does not drop below 10^4 K and the
gravitational energy is emitted mainly by the Ly alpha emission. Therefore, the
total H2 luminosity attains the peak value of about 10^42 ergs/s for forming
galaxies whose total mass 10^11 Msun. If these sources are situated at redshift
z=8, they can be detected by rotational lines of 0-0S(3) at 9.7 micron and
0-0S(1) at 17 micron by SAFIR. An efficient way to find such H2 emitters is to
look at the Ly alpha emitters, since the brightest H2 emitters are also
luminous in the Ly alpha emission.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, ApJ accepte
The mass spectrum of metal-free Stars resulting from photodissociation feedback: A scenario for the formation of low-mass population III stars
The initial mass function (IMF) of metal-free stars that form in the initial
starburst of massive (virial temperatures >10^4K) metal-free protogalaxies is
studied. In particular, we focus on the effect of H2 photodissociation by
pre-existing stars on the fragmentation mass scale, presumedly determined by
the Jeans mass at the end of the initial free-fall phase, i.e., at the
so-called ``loitering phase,'' characterized by the local temperature minimum.
Photodissociation diminishes the Jeans mass at the loitering phase, thereby
reducing the fragmentation mass scale of primordial clouds. Thus, in a given
cloud, far ultraviolet (FUV) radiation from the first star, which is supposedly
very massive (about 10^3Msun), reduces the mass scale for subsequent
fragmentation. Through a series of similar processes the IMF for metal-free
stars is established. If FUV radiation exceeds a threshold level, the
star-forming clumps collapse solely through atomic cooling. Correspondingly,
the fragmentation scale drops discontinuously from a few time 10Msun to
sub-solar scales. In compact clouds (>1.6kpc for clouds of gas mass 10^8Msun),
this level of radiation field is attained, and sub-solar mass stars are formed
even in a metal-free environment. Consequently, the IMF becomes bi-modal, with
peaks at a few tenths of Msun and a few times 10Msun. The high-mass portion of
the IMF is found to be a very steep function of the stellar mass, xi_high(m)
being proportinal to m^{-5}. Therefore, the typical mass scale of metal-free
stars is significantly smaller than that of the very first stars. Also we study
the thermal instability in collapsing primordial prestellar clumps, and discuss
why the thermal instability occuring during the three-body H2 formation does
not appear to manifest itself in causing further fragmentation of such clumps.Comment: 34 pages, 6 figures, ApJ accepte
Protostellar Collapse with Various Metallicities
The thermal and chemical evolution of gravitationally collapsing protostellar
clouds is investigated, focusing attention on their dependence on metallicity.
Calculations are carried out for a range of metallicities spanning the local
interstellar value to zero. During the time when clouds are transparent to
continuous radiation, the temperatures are higher for those with lower
metallicity, reflecting lower radiative ability. However, once the clouds
become opaque, in the course of the adiabatic contraction of the transient
cores, their evolutionary trajectories in the density-temperature plane
converge to a unique curve that is determined by only physical constants. The
trajectories coincide with each other thereafter. Consequently, the size of the
stellar core at the formation is the same regardless of the gas composition of
the parent cloud.Comment: 30 pages. The Astrophysical Journal, 533, in pres
Stochastic backgrounds of gravitational waves from extragalactic sources
Astrophysical sources emit gravitational waves in a large variety of
processes occurred since the beginning of star and galaxy formation. These
waves permeate our high redshift Universe, and form a background which is the
result of the superposition of different components, each associated to a
specific astrophysical process. Each component has different spectral
properties and features that it is important to investigate in view of a
possible, future detection. In this contribution, we will review recent
theoretical predictions for backgrounds produced by extragalactic sources and
discuss their detectability with current and future gravitational wave
observatories.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, proceedings of the GWDAW 10 Conference,
submitted to Class. & Quantum Gra
The Formation of the First Low-Mass Stars From Gas With Low Carbon and Oxygen Abundances
The first stars in the Universe are predicted to have been much more massive
than the Sun. Gravitational condensation accompanied by cooling of the
primordial gas due to molecular hydrogen, yields a minimum fragmentation scale
of a few hundred solar masses. Numerical simulations indicate that once a gas
clump acquires this mass, it undergoes a slow, quasi-hydrostatic contraction
without further fragmentation. Here we show that as soon as the primordial gas
- left over from the Big Bang - is enriched by supernovae to a carbon or oxygen
abundance as small as ~0.01-0.1% of that found in the Sun, cooling by
singly-ionized carbon or neutral oxygen can lead to the formation of low-mass
stars. This mechanism naturally accommodates the discovery of solar mass stars
with unusually low (10^{-5.3} of the solar value) iron abundance but with a
high (10^{-1.3} solar) carbon abundance. The minimum stellar mass at early
epochs is partially regulated by the temperature of the cosmic microwave
background. The derived critical abundances can be used to identify those
metal-poor stars in our Milky Way galaxy with elemental patterns imprinted by
the first supernovae.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures (appeared today in Nature
First-generation black-hole-forming supernovae and the metal abundance pattern of a very iron-poor star
It has been proposed theoretically that the first generation of stars in the
Universe (population III) would be as massive as 100 solar masses (100Mo),
because of inefficient cooling of the precursor gas clouds. Recently, the most
iron-deficient (but still carbon-rich) low-mass star -- HE0107-5240 -- was
discovered. If this is a population III that gained its metals (elements
heavier than helium) after its formation, it would challenge the theoretical
picture of the formation of the first stars. Here we report that the patterns
of elemental abundance in HE0107-5240 (and other extremely metal-poor stars)
are in good accord with the nucleosynthesis that occurs in stars with masses of
20-130Mo when they become supernovae if, during the explosions, the ejecta
undergo substantial mixing and fall-back to form massive black holes. Such
supernovae have been observed. The abundance patterns are not, however,
consistent with enrichment by supernovae from stars in the range 130-300 Mo. We
accordingly infer that the first-generation supernovae came mostly from
explosions of ~ 20-130Mo stars; some of these produced iron-poor but carbon-
and oxygen-rich ejecta. Low-mass second-generation stars, like HE0107-5240,
could form because the carbon and oxygen provided pathways for gas to cool.Comment: To appear in NATURE 422 (2003), 871-873 (issue 24 April 2003); Title
and the first paragraph have been changed and other minor corrections have
been mad
Formation of Primordial Stars in a LCDM Universe
We study the formation of the first generation of stars in the standard cold
dark matter model, using a very high-resolution hydordynamic simulations. Our
simulation achieves a dynamic range of 10^{10} in length scale. With accurate
treatment of atomic and molecular physics, it allows us to study the
chemo-thermal evolution of primordial gas clouds to densities up to n =
10^{16}/cc without assuming any a priori equation of state; a six orders of
magnitudes improvement over previous three-dimensional calculations. All the
relevant atomic and molecular cooling and heating processes, including cooling
by collision-induced continuum emission, are implemented. For calculating
optically thick H2 cooling at high densities, we use the Sobolev method. To
examine possible gas fragmentation owing to thermal instability, we compute
explicitly the growth rate of isobaric perturbations. We show that the cloud
core does not fragment in either the low-density or high-density regimes. We
also show that the core remains stable against gravitational deformation and
fragmentation. We obtain an accurate gas mass accretion rate within a 10 Msun
innermost region around the protostar. The protostar is accreting the
surrounding hot gas at a rate of 0.001-0.01 Msun/yr. From these findings we
conclude that primordial stars formed in early minihalos are massive. We carry
out proto-stellar evolution calculations using the obtained accretion rate. The
resulting mass of the first star is M_ZAMS = 60-100 Msun, with the exact mass
dependent on the actual accretion rate.Comment: 27 pages, 13 embedded figures. Revised versio
Direct Formation of Supermassive Black Holes via Multi-Scale Gas Inflows in Galaxy Mergers
Observations of distant bright quasars suggest that billion solar mass
supermassive black holes (SMBHs) were already in place less than a billion
years after the Big Bang. Models in which light black hole seeds form by the
collapse of primordial metal-free stars cannot explain their rapid appearance
due to inefficient gas accretion. Alternatively, these black holes may form by
direct collapse of gas at the center of protogalaxies. However, this requires
metal-free gas that does not cool efficiently and thus is not turned into
stars, in contrast with the rapid metal enrichment of protogalaxies. Here we
use a numerical simulation to show that mergers between massive protogalaxies
naturally produce the required central gas accumulation with no need to
suppress star formation. Merger-driven gas inflows produce an unstable, massive
nuclear gas disk. Within the disk a second gas inflow accumulates more than 100
million solar masses of gas in a sub-parsec scale cloud in one hundred thousand
years. The cloud undergoes gravitational collapse, which eventually leads to
the formation of a massive black hole. The black hole can grow to a billion
solar masses in less than a billion years by accreting gas from the surrounding
disk.Comment: 26 pages, 4 Figures, submitted to Nature (includes Supplementary
Information
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