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Title:
The Spatial Distribution of the Galactic First Stars. I. High-Resolution N-Body Approach
Authors:
Scannapieco, Evan; Kawata, Daisuke; Brook, Chris B.; Schneider, Raffaella; Ferrara, Andrea; Gibson, Brad K.
Affiliation:
AA(Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kohn Hall, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.), AB(The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101.; Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn VIC 3122, Australia.), AC(Département de Physique, de Génie Physique et d'Optique, Université Laval, Quebec, QC G1K 7P4, Canada.), AD(INAF/Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Florence, Italy.), AE(SISSA/International School for Advanced Studies, Via Beirut 4, I-34914 Trieste, Italy.), AF(Centre for Astrophysics, University of Central Lancashire, PR1 2HE Preston, UK.)
Publication:
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 653, Issue 1, pp. 285-299. (ApJ Homepage)
Publication Date:
12/2006
Origin:
UCP
ApJ Keywords:
Cosmology: Theory, Galaxy: Evolution, Galaxy: Formation, Stars: Abundances
DOI:
10.1086/508487
Bibliographic Code:
2006ApJ...653..285S

Abstract

We study the spatial distribution of Galactic metal-free stars by combining an extremely high-resolution (7.8×105 Msolar per particle) cold dark matter N-body simulation of the Milky Way with a semianalytic model of metal enrichment. This approach allows us to resolve halos with virial temperatures down to the 104K atomic cooling limit, and it is sufficiently flexible to make a number of robust conclusions, despite the extremely uncertain properties of the first stars. Galactic metal-free stars are formed over a large redshift range, which peaks at z~10, but continues down to z~5, contributing stars at a wide range of Galactocentric radii. Stars containing only metals from primordial stars are similarly widespread. Neither changing the efficiency of metal dispersal by 2 orders of magnitude, nor drastically changing the approximations in our semianalytical model can affect these result. Thus, if they have sufficiently long lifetimes, a significant number of stars formed in initially primordial star clusters should be found in the nearby Galactic halo. Observations of metal abundances in Galactic halo stars should be taken as directly constraining the properties of primordial stars, and the lack of metal-free halo stars today should be taken as strongly suggesting a 0.8 Msolar lower limit on the primordial initial mass function.

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