|
The First Stars and Galaxies: Challenges for the Next Decade Participants
Contact: |
Poster
Title: The First Stars: Formation of Binaries and Small Multiple Systems Author(s): Athena Stacy Abstract: We investigate the formation of metal-free, Population III (Pop III), stars within a minihalo at z ~ 20 with a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulation, starting from cosmological initial conditions. Employing a hierarchical, zoom-in procedure, we achieve sufficient numerical resolution to follow the collapsing gas in the center of the minihalo up to number densities of 10^12 cm^-3. This allows us to study the protostellar accretion onto the initial hydrostatic core, which we represent as a growing sink particle, in improved physical detail. We continue our simulation for 5000 yr after the first sink particle has formed. During this time period, a disk-like configuration is assembled around the first protostar. The disk is gravitationally unstable, develops a pronounced spiral structure, and fragments into several other protostellar seeds. At the end of the simulation, a small multiple system has formed, dominated by a binary with masses ~ 40 M_Sun and ~ 10 M_Sun. If Pop III stars were to form typically in binaries or small multiples, the standard model of primordial star formation, where single, isolated stars are predicted to form in minihalos, would have to be modified. This would have crucial consequences for the observational signature of the first stars, such as their nucleosynthetic pattern, and the gravitational-wave emission from possible Pop III black-hole binaries. Finally, we discuss preliminary results of a numerical study of protostellar feedback effects on the processes of accretion, disk evolution, and formation of Pop III stellar multiple systems.
|