Formation of the first stars

Abstract

From studying the cosmic microwave background, we know our Universe started out very simple. It was by and large homogeneous and isotropic, with small fluctuations that can be described by linear perturbation theory. In stark contrast, the Universe today is highly structured on a vast range of length and mass scales. In the evolution towards increasing complexity, the formation of the first stars marks a primary transition event. The first generation of stars, the so-called Population III (or Pop. III) build up from truly metal-free primordial gas. They have long been thought to live short, solitary lives, with only one massive star forming per halo. However, in recent years this simple picture has undergone substantial revision, and we now understand that stellar birth in the early Universe is subject to the same complexity as star formation at present days. In this chapter, I review the current state of the field. I begin by introducing the basics concepts of star-formation theory and by discussing the typical environment in which Pop. III stars are thought to form. Then I argue that the accretion disk that builds up in the center of a halo is likely to fragment, resulting in the formation of a cluster of stars with a wide range of masses, and I speculate about how this process may be influenced by stellar feedback, the presence of magnetic fields, the energy input from dark matter annihilation, and the occurrence of large- scale streaming velocities between baryons and dark matter. Finally, I discuss direct and indirect constraints on Pop. III star formation from high-redshift observations and from the search for extremely metal-poor stars in the Milky Way and its satellites.

Preprint of chapter 4 "Formation of the first stars", to be published in the review volume "Formation of the first black holes", Latif, M. and Schleicher, D. R. G., eds., World Scientific Publishing Company, 2018, pages 67 - 98 [see https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/10652]

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Cited by in corpus (25)

• The Physics of Star Cluster Formation and Evolution
• The REACH radiometer for detecting the 21-cm hydrogen signal from redshift 7.5 to 28
• The influence of streaming velocities and Lyman-Werner radiation on the formation of the first stars
• The importance of magnetic fields for the initial mass function of the first stars
• Astrophysical Constraints from the SARAS3 non-detection of the Cosmic Dawn Sky-Averaged 21-cm Signal
• Could the 2.6 $M_{\odot }$ object in GW190814 be a primordial black hole?
• Magnetic field amplification in accretion discs around the first stars: implications for the primordial IMF
• Formation of supermassive stars in the first star clusters
• The energy distribution of the first supernovae
• The role of the H${}_2$ adiabatic index in the formation of the first stars
• The impact of non-Gaussianity on the Epoch of Reionization parameter forecast using 21-cm power spectrum measurements
• A-SLOTH reveals the nature of the first stars
• Dust attenuation in galaxies at cosmic dawn from the FirstLight simulations
• Singularities in the Gravitational Capture of Dark Matter through Long-Range Interactions
• Multiscatter capture of superheavy dark matter by Pop. III stars
• Gravitational Fragmentation of Extremely Metal-poor Circumstellar Discs
• Analytic Approximations for the Velocity Suppression of Dark Matter Capture
• Stability and pulsation of the first dark stars
• Formation of supermassive stars in the first stellar clusters: Dependence on the gas temperature
• Can supermassive stars form in protogalaxies due to internal Lyman-Werner feedback?
• Astrophysical black holes
• Revealing massive black hole astrophysics: The potential of hierarchical inference with extreme mass-ratio inspiral observations
• When did the initial mass function become bottom-heavy?
• Primordial black holes capture by stars and induced collapse to low-mass stellar black holes
• Direct N-body simulations of rotating and extremely massive Population III star clusters