The Formation of Population III Binaries from Cosmological Initial Conditions
Jul, 200916 pages
Published in:
- Science 325 (2009) 601-605
e-Print:
- 0907.2919 [astro-ph.CO]
Report number:
- SLAC-PUB-13699
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Abstract: (arXiv)
Previous high resolution cosmological simulations predict the first stars to appear in the early universe to be very massive and to form in isolation. Here we discuss a cosmological simulation in which the central 50 solar mass clump breaks up into two cores, having a mass ratio of two to one, with one fragment collapsing to densities of 10^{-8} g/cc. The second fragment, at a distance of 800 astronomical units, is also optically thick to its own cooling radiation from molecular hydrogen lines, but is still able to cool via collision-induced emission. The two dense peaks will continue to accrete from the surrounding cold gas reservoir over a period of 10^5 years and will likely form a binary star system.References(31)
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