Simulating the First Stars in the Universe

Greg Bryan
Columbia University
Department of Astronomy

Hierarchical cosmological models (such as Cold Dark Matter) predict that the first objects to form in the universe are also the smallest. In this talk, I will discuss how AMR simulations have aided our understanding of the formation of the very first generation of stars. These objects, which form out of a nearly pure H and He gas, ended the preceding "dark ages" and may play an important role in re-ionizing the universe. Remarkably, their formation is easier to understand than present day star formation both because the initial conditions are well-prescribed and the relevant physical processes are particularly simple. Nevertheless, the range of scales is very large (from cosmological scales to the radius of the sun) and requires high resolution techniques in computational physics. I will show the results from high-resolution simulations and describe both the new insights that comes from such work and also discuss the implications of the predicted massive stars. In particular, these stars will generate first ionizing photons and then massive explosions, both of which will change the fate of nearby collapsing regions.

Presentation Files (Zip Archive)

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