On the First Generation of Stars

Abstract

We argue that the first stars may have spanned the conventional mass range rather than be identified with the Very Massive Objects (100-1000 solar masses) favoured by numerical simulations. Specifically, we find that magnetic field generation processes acting in the first protostellar systems suffice to produce fields that exceed the threshold for MRI instability to operate and thereby allow the MRI dynamo to generate equipartition-amplitude magnetic fields on protostellar mass scales below 50 solar masses. Such fields allow primordial star formation to occur at essentially any metallicity by regulating angular momentum transfer, fragmentation, accretion and feedback in much the same way as occurs in conventional molecular clouds.

Submitted to MNRAS

References in corpus (39)

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Cited by in corpus (43)

• Protostellar Feedback Halts the Growth of the First Stars in the Universe
• Formation of the First Stars
• A new Jeans resolution criterion for (M)HD simulations of self-gravitating gas: Application to magnetic field amplification by gravity-driven turbulence
• The stellar halo of the Galaxy
• Effects of rotation on the evolution of primordial stars
• Population III star formation in a Lambda CDM universe, II: Effects of a photodissociating background
• Magnetism in the spiral galaxy NGC 6946: magnetic arms, depolarization rings, dynamo modes and helical fields
• The First Magnetic Fields
• The generation of strong magnetic fields during the formation of the first stars
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• Magnetic fields in the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe
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• Rotation Speed of the First Stars
• Uncovering the Chemical Signature of the First Stars in the Universe
• The first generation of stars in LCDM cosmology
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• Magnetic field amplification during gravitational collapse - Influence of initial conditions on dynamo evolution and saturation
• Reionization - A probe for the stellar population and the physics of the early universe
• Rotation and Internal Structure of Population III Protostars
• The influence of magnetic fields on the thermodynamics of primordial star formation
• The First Stars
• Large-Scale Structure Formation: from the first non-linear objects to massive galaxy clusters
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• Fragmentation in the First Galaxies
• Magnetorotational Collapse of Supermassive Stars: Black Hole Formation, Gravitational Waves and Jets
• First stars and the extragalactic background light: How recent gamma-ray observations constrain the early universe
• Angular momentum transfer in primordial discs and the rotation of the first stars
• Low-metallicity star formation: Relative impact of metals and magnetic fields
• Formation of the first stars
• Magnetic fields in primordial accretion disks
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• Mixing of Primordial Gas in Lyman Break Galaxies
• Generation of Magnetic Field on the Accretion Disk around a Proto-First-Star
• First stars as a possible origin for the helium-rich population in omega Centauri
• Astrophysics in 2006
• Formation of metal-free binaries: Impact of H${}_2$ line cooling and CIE cooling
• The formation of the first galaxies and the transition to low-mass star formation
• Formation of the First Galaxies: Theory and Simulations
• Magnetic braking during direct collapse black hole formation
• Stellar Initial Mass Function over a range of redshifts
• Direct Collapse Accretion Disks Within Dark Matter Halos: Saturation of the Magnetorotational Instability and the Field Expulsion