Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2003-10-13
Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.350:539,2004
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 13 pages, including 9 figures and 2 tables
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07662.x
We investigate the effects of a top-heavy stellar initial mass function on the reionisation history of the intergalactic medium (IGM). We use cosmological simulations that include self-consistently the feedback from ionising radiation, H_2 dissociating radiation and supernova (SN) explosions. We find that it is difficult to reionise the IGM at z_rei>10 with stellar sources even after making extreme assumptions. If star formation in 10^9 M_\odot galaxies is not suppressed by SN explosions, the optical depth to Thomson scattering is tau_e< 0.13. If we allow for the normal energy input from SNe or if pair-instability SNe are dominant, we find taue<0.09. Assuming normal yields for the first stars (popIII), the mean metallicity of the IGM is already Z/Z_\odot=2x10^-3 (10^-3
Ostriker Jeremiah P.
Ricotti Massimo
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