# First star formation in ultra-light particle dark matter cosmology

## TL;DR

This study uses cosmological simulations to explore how ultra-light axion-like dark matter affects the timing, environment, and properties of the first stars in the universe, revealing delayed star formation but similar star characteristics.

## Contribution

It provides the first detailed simulations of primordial star formation in ultra-light axion-like dark matter cosmologies, highlighting differences in formation epoch and host structures compared to standard models.

## Key findings

- Star formation is delayed to lower redshifts in ultra-light DM cosmologies.
- First stars form in more massive structures than in standard CDM.
- Thermodynamic collapse behavior of gas remains similar across models.

## Abstract

The formation of the first stars in the high-redshift Universe is a sensitive probe of the small-scale, particle physics nature of dark matter (DM). We carry out cosmological simulations of primordial star formation in ultra-light, axion-like particle DM cosmology, with masses of $10^{-22}$ and $10^{-21}\,{\rm eV}$, with de Broglie wavelengths approaching galactic scales ($\sim$kpc). The onset of star formation is delayed, and shifted to more massive host structures. For the lightest DM particle mass explored here, first stars form at $z \sim 7$ in structures with $\sim 10^9\,{\rm M}_\odot$, compared to the standard minihalo environment within the $\Lambda$ cold dark matter ($\Lambda$CDM) cosmology, where $z \sim 20 - 30$ and $\sim 10^5 - 10^6\,{\rm M}_\odot$. Despite this greatly altered DM host environment, the thermodynamic behaviour of the metal-free gas as it collapses into the DM potential well asymptotically approaches a very similar evolutionary track. Thus, the fragmentation properties are predicted to remain the same as in $\Lambda$CDM cosmology, implying a similar mass scale for the first stars. These results predict intense starbursts in the axion cosmologies, which may be amenable to observations with the {\it James Webb Space Telescope}.