Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Published Online November 15, 2001
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1063991

Research Articles

Submitted on July 2, 2001
Accepted on October 31, 2001

The Formation of the First Star in the Universe

Tom Abel 1, Greg L. Bryan 2, Michael L. Norman 3

1 Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK.
2 Astrophysics Division, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
3 Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.

We describe results from a fully self-consistent three dimensional hydrodynamical simulation of the formation of one of the first stars in the Universe. As dark matter dominated pre-galactic objects form because of gravitational instability from small initial density perturbations. As they assemble via hierarchical merging, primordial gas cools through ro-vibrational lines of hydrogen molecules and sinks to the center of the dark matter potential well. The high redshift analog of a molecular cloud is formed. As the dense, central parts of the cold gas cloud become self-gravitating, a dense core of ~100M{odot} undergoes rapid contraction. At densities n > 109 cm-3 a 1M{odot} proto-stellar core becomes fully molecular due to three-body H2 formation. Contrary to analytical expectations this process does not lead to renewed fragmentation and only one star is formed. The calculation is stopped when optical depth effects become important, leaving the final mass of the fully formed star somewhat uncertain. At this stage the protostar is accreting material very rapidly (~10-2 M{odot} year-1). Radiative feedback from the star will not only halt its growth but also inhibit the formation of other stars in the same pre-galactic object (at least until the first star ends its life, presumably as a supernova). We conclude that at most one massive (M >> 1M{odot}) metal free star forms per pre-galactic halo, consistent with recent abundance measurements of metal poor galactic halo stars.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Formation of Population III Binaries from Cosmological Initial Conditions.
M. J. Turk, T. Abel, and B. O'Shea (2009)
Science 325, 601-605
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Protostar Formation in the Early Universe.
N. Yoshida, K. Omukai, and L. Hernquist (2008)
Science 321, 669-671
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stellar Feedback in Dwarf Galaxy Formation.
S. Mashchenko, J. Wadsley, and H. M. P. Couchman (2008)
Science 319, 174-177
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Lighting the Universe with Filaments.
L. Gao and T. Theuns (2007)
Science 317, 1527-1530
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
cooling in primordial gas.
S. Glover and D. W. Savin (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc A 364, 3107-3112
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The First Chemical Enrichment in the Universe and the Formation of Hyper Metal-Poor Stars.
N. Iwamoto, H. Umeda, N. Tominaga, K. Nomoto, and K. Maeda (2005)
Science 309, 451-453
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Dark Age of the Universe.
J. Miralda-Escude (2003)
Science 300, 1904-1909
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)