Following The Cosmic Evolution Of Pristine Gas I: Implications For Milky Way Halo Stars

TL;DR

This study uses advanced cosmological simulations to trace the evolution of pristine gas and primordial metals, providing insights into the origins of metal-poor stars in the Milky Way halo.

Contribution

It introduces a new subgrid turbulent mixing model to accurately simulate early star formation and metal enrichment in the galaxy.

Findings

Partial mixing accounts for 50-70% of Pop III stars up to z=5.

Primordial metals lead to unique abundance signatures in CEMP-no stars.

Good agreement with observed element ratios in specific halo stars.

Abstract

We make use of new subgrid model of turbulent mixing to accurately follow the cosmological evolution of the first stars, the mixing of their supernova ejecta, and the impact on the chemical composition of the Galactic Halo. Using the cosmological adaptive mesh refinement code RAMSES, we implement a model for the pollution of pristine gas as described in Pan et al. Tracking the metallicity of Pop III stars with metallicities below a critical value allows us to account for the fraction of Z < Zcrit stars formed even in regions in which the gas' average metallicity is well above Zcrit. We demonstrate that such partially-mixed regions account for 0.5 to 0.7 of all Pop III stars formed up to z = 5. Additionally, we track the creation and transport of "primordial metals" (PM) generated by Pop III supernovae (SNe). These neutron-capture deficient metals are taken up by second-generation stars and likely lead to unique abundance signatures characteristic of carbon-enhanced, metal-poor (CEMP-no) stars. As an illustrative example, we associate primordial metals with abundance ratios used by Keller et al. to explain the source of metals in the star SMSS J031300.36-670839.3, finding good agreement with the observed [Fe/H], [C/H], [O/H], and [Mg/Ca] ratios in CEMP-no Milky Way halo stars. Similar future simulations will aid in further constraining the properties of Pop III stars using CEMP observations, as well as improve predictions of the spatial distribution of Pop III stars, as will be explored by the next generation of ground- and space-based telescopes.