Fragmentation of Accretion Streams into the First Galaxies

Details Fragmentation of Accretion Streams into the First Galaxies Fragmentation of Accretion Streams into the First Galaxies

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aspc..432..249s&link_type=abstract

New Horizons in Astronomy: Frank N. Bash Symposium 2009, proceedings of a conference held Oct. 18-20, 2009 in Austin, Texas, USA

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Motivated by recent simulations of galaxy formation in which protogalaxies acquire their baryonic content through filamentary accretion streams, we study the gravitational fragmentation of gas flowing into a typical first galaxy. Our idealized one-zone model computes the post-shock thermal evolution of accretion streams flowing into a 108 Msun DM halo at z = 10. We find there to be a sharp drop in the fragmentation mass scale from roughly 105 Msun to 1 Msun when the accreting gas rises above a metallicity of 10-4.5 Zsun due to the increased cooling metals provide, assuming there is a Lyman-Werner background of sufficient strength to disassociate molecular species (H2 and HD). If molecules are able to form they will dominate the cooling and degree of metallicity does not affect the fate of the gas. This simplified model identifies the key physical processes and sets the stage for more complex simulations on this important epoch of star formation.

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