Low-Mass Star Formation, Triggered by Supernova in Primordial Clouds

Abstract

The evolution of a gas shell, swept by the supernova remnant of a massive first generation star, is studied with H_2 and HD chemistry taken into account. When a first-generation star explodes as a supernova, H_2 and HD molecules are formed in the swept gas shell and effectively cool the gas shell to temperatures of 32 K - 154 K. If the supernova remnant can sweep to gather the ambient gas, the gas shell comes to be dominated by its self-gravity, and hence, is expected to fragment. Our result shows that for a reasonable range of temperatures (200 K - 1000 K) of interstellar gas, the formation of second-generation stars can be triggered by a single supernova or hypernova.Comment: 38pages, 10 figures, The Astrophysical Journal, accepted 8 Dec. 200