How the First Stars Regulated Local Star Formation I: Radiative Feedback

TL;DR

This study uses advanced 3D simulations to explore how a primordial 120 solar mass star influences nearby halo star formation through radiative feedback, revealing density-dependent effects on gas ionization, evaporation, and molecule formation.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed 3D simulation analysis of radiative feedback from a massive primordial star on surrounding halos, highlighting the importance of halo density and geometry.

Findings

Diffuse halos are fully ionized and evaporated.

Dense halos resist ionization and collapse unaffected.

H$_2$ formation is temporarily suppressed but recovers after star death.

Abstract

We present numerical simulations of how a 120 M$_\odot$ primordial star regulates star formation in nearby cosmological halos at $z \sim$ 20 by photoevaporation. Our models include nine-species primordial chemistry and self-consistent multifrequency conservative transfer of UV photons with all relevant radiative processes. Whether or not new stars form in halos clustered around a Population III star ultimately depends on their core densities and proximity to the star. Diffuse halos with central densities below 2 - 3 cm$^{-3}$ are completely ionized and evaporated anywhere in the cluster. Evolved halos with core densities above 2000 cm$^{-3}$ are impervious to both ionizing and Lyman-Werner flux at most distances from the star and collapse as quickly as they would in its absence. Star formation in halos of intermediate density can be either promoted or suppressed depending on how the I-front remnant shock compresses, deforms and enriches the core with H$_2$. We find that the 120 M$_\odot$ star photodissociates H$_2$ in most halos in the cluster but that catalysis by H- restores it a few hundred kyr after the death of the star, with little effect on star formation. Our models exhibit significant departures from previous one-dimensional spherically-symmetric simulations, which are prone to serious errors due to unphysical geometric focusing effects.