Star Formation at Very Low Metallicity Anne-Katharina Jappsen
Star Formation at
Very Low Metallicity
Anne-Katharina Jappsen
Collaborators
Simon Glover, Heidelberg, Germany
Ralf Klessen, Heidelberg, Germany
Mordecai-Mark Mac Low, AMNH, New York
Spyridon Kitsionas, AIP, Potsdam, Germany
The Initial Mass Function
From Pop III Stars to the IMF?star formation in the early universe:
30 Msun < M < 600 Msun (e.g. O’Shea & Norman 07)
Z = 0 (Pop III) ➞ Z < 10-3 Zsun (Pop II.5)
Mchar ~ 100 - 300 Msun
present-day star formation:
0.01 Msun < M < 100 Msun
Z > 10-5 Zsun , Z = Zsun
Mchar ~ 0.2 Msun
Critical Metallicity
Bromm et al. 2001:
SPH-simulations of collapsing dark matter mini-halos
no H2 or other molecules
no dust cooling
only C and O atomic cooling
10-4 Zsun < Zcr < 10-3 Zsun
Dependence on MetallicityOmukai et al. 2005: one-zone model,H2 , HD and other molecules, metal cooling, dust cooling
t = 1
102 Msun
1 Msun
10-2 Msun
Present-day star formationOmukai et al. 2005: one-zone model,H2 , HD and other molecules, metal cooling, dust cooling
t = 1
Z=0
Dependence on Z at low rOmukai et al. 2005: one-zone model,H2 , HD and other molecules, metal cooling, dust cooling
t = 1
Numerical Model
Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics
Gadget-1 & Gadget-2 (Springel et al. 01, Springel 05)
Sink particles (Bate et al. 95)
chemistry and cooling
particle splitting (Kitsionas & Whitworth 02)
Chemical Model
Cooling and Heating
gas-grain energy transfer
H collisional ionization
H+ recombination
H2 rovibrational lines
H2 collisional dissociation
Ly-alpha & Compton cooling
Fine-structure cooling from C, O and Si
photoelectric effect
H2 photodissociation
UV pumping of H2
H2 formation on dust grains
Dependence on Metallicity at Low Density
gas fully ionized
initial temperature: 10000 K
centrally condensed halo
contained gas mass: 17% of DM Mass
number of gas particles: 105 – 106
resolution limit: 20 MSUN – 400 MSUN
Dependence on Metallicity at Low Density
halo size: 5 x 104 Msun – 107 Msun
redshift: 15, 20, 25, 30
metallicity: zero, 10-4 Zsun, 10-3 Zsun, 10-2 Zsun, 0.1 Zsun
UV background: J21 = 0, 10-2, 10-1
dust: yes or no
(Jappsen et al. 07)
Dependence on Metallicity at Low Density
Influence of Different Initial Conditions
example I
centrally condensed halo hot, ionized initial conditions
• NFW profile, rs = 29 pc
• T = 10000 K
• z = 25
• MDM = 8 x 105 Msun
• Mres, gas = 1.5 Msun
example II
solid-body rotating top-hat (cf. Bromm et al. 1999) cold initial conditions with dark matter fluctuations
• top-hat approximation
• T = 200 K
• MDM = 2 x 106 Msun
• Mres, gas = 12 Msun
Example I
CMB
after 52 Myrs
Example II Rotating top-hat with
dark matter fluctuations and cold gas initially:
gas fragments no matter what metallicity, because unstable disk builds up (Jappsen et al. 09)
H2 is the dominant coolant!
“critical metallicity” only represents point where metal-line cooling dominates molecular cooling
Conclusions – so far
H2 is the dominant and most effective coolant
different initial conditions can help or hinder fragmentation ⇒ we need more accurate initial conditions from observations and modeling of galaxy formation
there is no “critical metallicity” for fragmentation at densities below 105 cm-3
Transition from Pop III to modern IMF maybe at higher densities due to dust-induced fragmentation:
Dependence on Z at high rOmukai et al. 2005: one-zone model,H2 , HD and other molecules, metal cooling, dust cooling
t = 1
Dust-induced Fragmentation
Clark et al. 2008 study dust-induced fragmentation in 3D numerical simulations of star formation in the early universe
dense cluster of low-mass protostars builds up: mass spectrum peaks below 1 Msun
cluster VERY dense (nstars = 2.5 x 109 pc-3)
fragmentation at density ngas = 1012 - 1013 cm-3
Conclusions
H2 is the dominant and most effective coolant at n < 105 cm-3
there is no “critical metallicity” for fragmentation at densities below 105 cm-3
different initial conditions can help or hinder fragmentation ⇒ we need more accurate initial conditions from observations and modeling of galaxy formation
Transition from Pop III to modern IMF maybe at higher densities due to dust-induced fragmentation at Z = 10-5 Zsun