The Detectability of the First Stars and Their Cluster Enrichment Signatures

By Evan Scannapieco, R. Schneider, A. Ferrara. 2003

163 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We conduct a comprehensive investigation of the detectability of the first stars and their enrichment signatures in galaxy clusters. As the initial mass function (IMF) of these Population III stars is unknown and likely to be biased to high masses, we base our study on analytical models that parameterize these uncertainties and allow us to make general statements. We show that the mean metallicity of outflows from Population III objects containing these stars is well above the critical transition metallicity (Zcr ~ 10-4 Z☉) that marks the formation of normal stars. Thus, the fraction of Population III objects formed as a function of redshift is heavily dependent on the distribution of metals and fairly independent of the mean metallicity of the universe, or the precise value of Zcr. Using an analytic model of inhomogeneous structure formation, we study the evolution of Population III objects as a function of the star formation efficiency, IMF, and efficiency of outflow generation. For all models, Population III objects tend to be in the 106.5-107.0 M☉ mass range, just large enough to cool within a Hubble time, but small enough that they are not clustered near areas of previous star formation. Although the mean metallicity exceeds Zcr at z ~ 15 in all models, the peak of Population III star formation occurs at z ~ 10, and such stars continue to form well into the observable range. We discuss the observational properties of these objects, some of which may have already been detected in ongoing surveys of high-redshift Lyα emitters. Finally, we combine our Population III distributions with the yield models of Heger & Woosley to study their impact on the intracluster medium (ICM) in galaxy clusters. We find that Population III stars can contribute no more than 20% of the iron observed in the ICM, but if they form with characteristic masses ~200-260 M☉, their peculiar elemental yields help to reconcile theoretical models with the observed Fe and Si/Fe abundances. However, these stars tend to overproduce S/Fe and can account only for the O/Fe ratio in the inner regions of poor clusters. Additionally, the associated supernova heating falls far short of the observed level of ~1 keV per ICM gas particle. Thus, the properties of the first objects may be best determined by direct observation.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/88aebf00c01bdfe2b58609ad5310461dbc66767a

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Citations in the corpus

The First Cosmic Structures and Their Effects (2004, background): “For all values of the feedback parameter, Eg, Scannapieco et al. (2003) found that, while the peak of Pop III star formation occurs at z ≈ 10, such stars continue to contribute appreciably to the star formation rate density at much lower redshifts (Fig.”
Quasar Feedback: The Missing Link in Structure Formation (2004, background): “…level of heating is so high that it greatly exceeds the energy available from the Type II supernovae resulting from metal-enriched stars, as well as the additional energy input from pair-production supernovae from a possible generation of massive primordial stars (e.g., Scannapieco et al. 2003).”
Chemical Evolution in Hierarchical Models of Cosmic Structure. I. Constraints on the Early Stellar Initial Mass Function (2005, background): “The other approach is represented by Scannapieco et al. (2003) and Aguirre et al. (2003), who explicitly consider halo-halo cross-enrichment in the context of a hierarchical semi-analytic model (the former) or post-processed hydrodynamical simulations (the latter).”
The Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS). IV. Evolution of Lyα Emitters from z = 3.1 to 5.7 in the 1 deg2 Field: Luminosity Functions and AGN (2007, background): “Although theoretical models predict the existence of primordial populations at these redshifts (Scannapieco et al. 2003; Jimenez &Haiman 2006), we 19 The Si ii absorption of zh i ¼ 3:13 LAEmay exist, but the significance level is not high.”
THE BIRTH OF A GALAXY: PRIMORDIAL METAL ENRICHMENT AND STELLAR POPULATIONS (2010, methodology): “Spurred by the notion of a critical metallicity, this transition has been extensively studied with (i) volumeaveraged semi-analytic models (Scannapieco et al. 2003; Yoshida et al. 2004; Furlanetto & Loeb 2005), (ii) models using hierarchical merger trees (Tumlinson 2006, 2010; Salvadori et al.…”
FORMATION RATES OF POPULATION III STARS AND CHEMICAL ENRICHMENT OF HALOS DURING THE REIONIZATION ERA (2009, background): “…formalism combined with recipes to populate the dark halos with Population III stars (Mackey et al. 2003; Greif & Bromm 2006; Wyithe & Chen 2006; Scannapieco et al. 2003; MacIntyre et al. 2006; Schneider et al. 2006), (2) high-resolution hydrodynamic–radiative transfer simulations that follow…”
EVIDENCE FOR PopIII-LIKE STELLAR POPULATIONS IN THE MOST LUMINOUS Lyα EMITTERS AT THE EPOCH OF REIONIZATION: SPECTROSCOPIC CONFIRMATION (2015, background): “…radiation is able to affect the surroundings as it travels fast, significant metal enrichment is very inefficient on scales larger than ∼ 1 kpc (e.g. Scannapieco et al. 2003; Tornatore et al. 2007; Ritter et al. 2014), both due to the larger time-scales for metals (from supernovae) to travel…”
FORMATION OF THE FIRST NUCLEAR CLUSTERS AND MASSIVE BLACK HOLES AT HIGH REDSHIFT (2008, methodology): “The cosmic metallicity history (MEH) has been investigated both from an observational and a theoretical prospective (Scannapieco et al. 2003, Tornatore et al. 2006, Savaglio 2006, Savaglio et al. 2005, Prochaska et al. 2003, Prochaska et al. 2007, Kulkarni et al. 2005, Li 2007).”
The Type Ia Supernova Rate (2005, methodology): “We take 0.143 M ⊙ of oxygen per SN Ia (Tsujimoto et al. 1997) , 1.19 M ⊙ oxygen per core collapse SN (a Salpeter IMF average computed in Scannapieco et al. 2003), and a closed-box model.”
The First Stars (2003, background): “…(IGM) with heavy elements (e.g., Ostriker & Gnedin 1996, Gnedin & Ostriker 1997, Ferrara et al. 2000, Madau et al. 2001, Mori et al. 2002, Thacker et al. 2002, Bromm et al. 2003, Furlanetto & Loeb 2003, Mackey et al. 2003, Scannapieco et al. 2003, Wada & Venkatesan 2003, Yoshida et al. 2004).”
THE SPECTRAL EVOLUTION OF THE FIRST GALAXIES. I. JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE DETECTION LIMITS AND COLOR CRITERIA FOR POPULATION III GALAXIES (2011, background): “True population III galaxies may, however, form at slightly later epochs, in low-density environments which have remained chemically pristine (e.g. Scannapieco et al. 2003; Trenti et al. 2009; Stiavelli & Trenti 2010).”
PAIR INSTABILITY SUPERNOVAE: LIGHT CURVES, SPECTRA, AND SHOCK BREAKOUT (2011, background): “Scannapieco et al. (2005) (see also Scannapieco et al. (2003)) provided one estimate of the rate as of one PI SN per 1000 solar masses of metal free stars, with the metal free stars themselves forming, at all redshifts, at only 1% of the total star formation rate.”