Feedback Processes in Semi-analytic Simulations of the First Stars
Abstract
Forthcoming instruments are poised to detect the first observational signatures of metal-free, Population III (Pop III), stars. For instance, JWST may detect Pop III pair-instability supernovae and large ground-based telescopes such as GMT, TMT, and ELT will take spectra of many stars in our Galaxy to perform stellar archaeology (i.e. observing extremely metal poor stars that were enriched by metals from Pop III supernovae). I will present semi-analytic models of the formation of the first stars, which can be utilized to make predictions for these observations. These models take dark matter halo merger trees from cosmological N-body simulations as input (including 3-dimensional spatial information) and apply analytic prescriptions to compute both the Pop III and metal-enriched star formation histories. The primary new feature of the models is a grid-based method to accurately and rapidly compute all of the major feedback processes affecting Pop III star formation: molecular hydrogen photodissociation from Lyman-Werner radiation, suppression of star formation due to inhomogeneous reionization, and metal enrichment via supernovae winds. This approach enables efficient computation of star formation throughout the uncertain parameter space of the first stars. I will describe the simulation results and in particular how Pop III star formation is strongly impacted by the combination of metal enrichment and reionization feedback at redshifts less than z = 15.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #235
- Pub Date:
- January 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AAS...23514706V