No Arabic abstract
The first luminous objects forming in the universe produce radiation backgrounds in the FUV and X-ray bands that affect the formation of Population III stars. Using a grid of cosmological hydrodynamics zoom-in simulations, we explore the impact of the Lyman-Warner (LW) and X-ray radiation backgrounds on the critical dark matter halo mass for Population III star formation and the total mass in stars per halo. We find that the LW radiation background lowers the H$_2$ fraction and delays the formation of the Population III stars. On the other hand, X-ray irradiation anticipates the redshift of collapse and reduces the critical halo mass, unless the X-ray background is too strong and gas heating shuts down gas collapse into the halos and prevents star formation. Therefore, an X-ray background can increase the number of dark matter halos forming Population III stars by about a factor of ten, but the total mass in stars forming in each halo is reduced. This is because X-ray radiation increases the molecular fraction and lowers the minimum temperature of the collapsing gas (or equivalently the mass of the quasi-hydrostatic core) and therefore slows down the accretion of the gas onto the central protostar.
Disc fragmentation plays an important role in determining the number of primordial stars (Pop III stars), their masses, and hence the initial mass function. In this second paper of a series, we explore the effect of uniform FUV H$_2$-photodissociating and X-ray radiation backgrounds on the formation of Pop~III stars using a grid of high-resolution zoom-in simulations. We find that, in an X-ray background, protostellar discs have lower surface density and higher Toomre $Q$ parameter, so they are more stable. For this reason, X-ray irradiated discs undergo fewer fragmentations and typically produce either binary systems or low-multiplicity systems. In contrast, the cases with weak or no X-ray irradiation produce systems with a typical multiplicity of $6 pm 3$. In addition, the most massive protostar in each system is smaller by roughly a factor of two when the disc is irradiated by X-rays, due to lower accretion rate. With these two effects combined, the initial mass function of fragments becomes more top-heavy in a strong X-ray background and is well described by a power-law with slope $1.53$ and high-mass cutoff of $61$ M$_odot$. Without X-rays, we find a slope $0.49$ and cutoff mass of $229$ M$_odot$. Finally, protostars migrate outward after their formation due to the accretion of high-angular momentum gas from outside and the migration is more frequent and significant in absence of X-ray irradiation.
Massive clumps tend to fragment into clusters of cores and condensations, some of which form high-mass stars. In this work, we study the structure of massive clumps at different scales, analyze the fragmentation process, and investigate the possibility that star formation is triggered by nearby HII regions. We present a high angular resolution study of a sample of 8 massive proto-cluster clumps. Combining infrared data, we use few-arcsecond resolution radio- and millimeter interferometric data to study their fragmentation and evolution. Our sample is unique in the sense that all the clumps have neighboring HII regions. Taking advantage of that, we test triggered star formation using a novel method where we study the alignment of the centres of mass traced by dust emission at multiple scales. The eight massive clumps have masses ranging from 228 to 2279 $M_odot$. The brightest compact structures within infrared bright clumps are typically associated with embedded compact radio continuum sources. The smaller scale structures of $R_{rm eff}$ $sim$ 0.02 pc observed within each clump are mostly gravitationally bound and massive enough to form at least a B3-B0 type star. Many condensations have masses larger than 8 $M_odot$ at small scale of $R_{rm eff}$ $sim$ 0.02 pc. Although the clumps are mostly infrared quiet, the dynamical movements are active at clump scale ($sim$ 1 pc). We studied the spatial distribution of the gas conditions detected at different scales. For some sources we find hints of external triggering, whereas for others we find no significant pattern that indicates triggering is dynamically unimportant. This probably indicates that the different clumps go through different evolutionary paths. In this respect, studies with larger samples are highly desired.
We apply the empirical galaxy--halo connection model UniverseMachine to dark matter-only zoom-in simulations of isolated Milky Way (MW)--mass halos along with their parent cosmological simulations. This application extends textsc{UniverseMachine} predictions into the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy regime ($ 10^{2},mathrm{M_{odot}} leqslant M_{ast} leqslant 10^{5},mathrm{M_{odot}}$) and yields a well-resolved stellar mass--halo mass (SMHM) relation over the peak halo mass range $10^8,mathrm{M_{odot}}$ to $10^{15},mathrm{M_{odot}}$. The extensive dynamic range provided by the zoom-in simulations allows us to assess specific aspects of dwarf galaxy evolution predicted by textsc{UniverseMachine}. In particular, although UniverseMachine is not constrained for dwarf galaxies with $M_* lesssim 10^{8},mathrm{M_{odot}}$, our predicted SMHM relation is consistent with that inferred for MW satellite galaxies at $z=0$ using abundance matching. However, UniverseMachine predicts that nearly all galaxies are actively star forming below $M_{ast}sim 10^{7},mathrm{M_{odot}}$ and that these systems typically form more than half of their stars at $zlesssim 4$, which is discrepant with the star formation histories of Local Group dwarf galaxies that favor early quenching. This indicates that the current UniverseMachine model does not fully capture galaxy quenching physics at the low-mass end. We highlight specific improvements necessary to incorporate environmental and reionization-driven quenching for dwarf galaxies, and provide a new tool to connect dark matter accretion to star formation over the full dynamic range that hosts galaxies.
Background: low-mass stars are the dominant product of the star formation process, and they trace star formation over the full range of environments, from isolated globules to clusters in the central molecular zone. In the past two decades, our understanding of the spatial distribution and properties of young low-mass stars and protostars has been revolutionized by sensitive space-based observations at X-ray and IR wavelengths. By surveying spatial scales from clusters to molecular clouds, these data provide robust measurements of key star formation properties. Goal: with their large numbers and their presence in diverse environments, censuses of low mass stars and protostars can be used to measure the dependence of star formation on environmental properties, such as the density and temperature of the natal gas, strengths of the magnetic and radiation fields, and the density of stars. Here we summarize how such censuses can answer three basic questions: i.) how is the star formation rate influenced by environment, ii.) does the IMF vary with environment, and iii.) how does the environment shape the formation of bound clusters? Answering these questions is an important step toward understanding star and cluster formation across the extreme range of environments found in the Universe. Requirements: sensitivity and angular resolution improvements will allow us to study the full range of environments found in the Milky Way. High spatial dynamic range (< 1arcsec to > 1degree scales) imaging with space-based telescopes at X-ray, mid-IR, and far-IR and ground-based facilities at near-IR and sub-mm wavelengths are needed to identify and characterize young stars.
We performed population synthesis simulations of Population III binary stars with Maxwellian kick velocity distribution when MGCOs (Mass Gap Compact Objects with mass 2--5$,M_{odot}$) are formed. We found that for eight kick velocity dispersion models of $sigma_{rm k}=0$--$500$ km/s, the mean mass of black hole (BH)-MGCO binary is $sim (30 ,M_odot,,2.6 ,M_odot)$. In numerical data of our simulations, we found the existence of BH-MGCO binary with mass $(22.9 ,M_odot,,2.5 ,M_odot)$ which looks like GW190814.