Formation Criteria and the Mass of Secondary Population III Stars

TL;DR

This study uses 3D radiation hydrodynamic simulations to determine how ionizing radiation feedback from a massive Pop III star influences the formation and potential mass of secondary Population III stars, revealing conditions that enable their formation and estimating their masses.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed 3D RHD simulation framework to analyze the formation criteria and mass of secondary Pop III stars under feedback effects from a preexisting massive star.

Findings

H_2 shells effectively shield dissociating radiation, enabling positive feedback.

Threshold density for collapse depends on distance from the star.

Shock stripping can reduce secondary star mass to about 20 solar masses.

Abstract

We explore the formation of secondary Population III (Pop III) stars under radiation hydrodynamic (RHD) feedback by a preformed massive star. To properly treat RHD feedback, we perform three-dimensional RHD simulations incorporating the radiative transfer of ionizing photons as well as H_2 dissociating photons from a preformed star. A collapsing gas cloud is settled at a given distance from a 120Msun Pop III star, and the evolution of the cloud is pursued including RHD feedback. We derive the threshold density depending on the distance, above which the cloud can keep collapsing owing to the shielding of H_2 dissociating radiation. We find that an H_2 shell formed ahead of an ionizing front works effectively to shield the H_2 dissociating radiation, leading to the positive feedback for the secondary Pop III star formation. Also, near the threshold density, the envelope of gas cloud is stripped significantly by a shock associated with an ionizing front. By comparing the mass accretion timescale with the Kelvin-Helmholtz timescale, we estimate the mass of secondary Pop III stars. It turns out that the stripping by a shock can reduce the mass of secondary Pop III stars down to \approx 20Msum.