The First Stars in the Universe: Mass Function and Local Chemical Signatures

Details The First Stars in the Universe: Mass Function and Local Chemical Signatures The First Stars in the Universe: Mass Function and Local Chemical Signatures

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...209.2004t&link_type=abstract

2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #20.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, V

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

The first stars in the Universe initiated cosmic metal enrichment and the reionization of the IGM, so their detailed properties are of great interest to cosmology generally. Thanks to current and future surveys of metal-poor stars in the Local Group, we need not await JWST to test theories of star formation from primordial and very low-metallicity gas. Existing data indicates that the characteristic mass of the first stars was 10 Msun, higher than in the solar neighborhood but smaller than the >100 Msun predictions of recent numerical simulations. Recent discoveries of peculiar abundances in the lowest metallicity stars constitute evidence that the stellar mass function changes smoothly with metallicity and/or time. This contribution will survey the data now available and expected from future surveys and describe the theoretical framework being developed to turn these new data on metal-poor stars into detailed empirical knowledge of the first generations of stars in the Universe. This new theoretical technique calculates chemical evolution for the first time in the fully hierarchical and stochastic context of early galaxy formation. It thus provides a robust, flexible, and fast approach to testing models of primordial star formation against the only data presently available that can constrain them.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The First Stars in the Universe: Mass Function and Local Chemical Signatures does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The First Stars in the Universe: Mass Function and Local Chemical Signatures, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The First Stars in the Universe: Mass Function and Local Chemical Signatures will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1155928