Aeos: The Impact of Population III Initial Mass Function and Star-by-Star Models in Galaxy Simulations

TL;DR

This study investigates how variations in the Population III initial mass function and star-by-star feedback influence early galaxy formation, ionization, and chemical enrichment using detailed cosmological simulations, revealing significant impacts on galaxy evolution and stellar abundances.

Contribution

It introduces the Aeos simulation framework with star-by-star modeling to assess Pop III IMF effects, highlighting their influence on ionization, galaxy formation, and chemical signatures in early universe simulations.

Findings

Aeos20 produces more ionizing photons, ionizing 30% of volume by z≈14.

Pop II stars show higher light and alpha-element abundances with the Aeos20 IMF.

Star-by-star modeling results in a steeper mass-metallicity relation.

Abstract

We explore the effect of variations in the Population III (Pop III) initial mass function (IMF) and star-by-star feedback on early galaxy formation and evolution using the Aeos simulations. We compare simulations with two different Pop III IMFs: $M_\text{char} = 10 \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ and $M_{\rm max} = 100 \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ (Aeos10) and $M_\text{char} = 20 \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ and $M_{\rm max} = 300 \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ (Aeos20). Aeos20 produces significantly more ionizing photons, ionizing 30% of the simulation volume by $z \approx 14$, compared to 9% in Aeos10. This enhanced ionization suppresses galaxy formation on the smallest scales. Differences in Pop III IMF also affect chemical enrichment. Aeos20 produces Population II (Pop II) stars with higher abundances, relative to iron, of light and $\alpha$-elements, a stronger odd-even effect, and a higher frequency of carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars. The abundance scatter between different Pop II galaxies dominates the differences due to Pop III IMF, though, implying a need for a larger sample of Pop II stars to interpret the impact of Pop III IMF on early chemical evolution. We also compare the Aeos simulations to traditional simulations that use single stellar population particles. We find that star-by-star modeling produces a steeper mass-metallicity relation due to less bursty feedback. These results highlight the strong influence of the Pop III IMF on early galaxy formation and chemical evolution, emphasizing the need to account for IMF uncertainties in simulations and the importance of metal-poor Pop II stellar chemical abundances when studying the first stars.