Was the Universe Reionized by Massive Metal-free Stars? | Zendy

J. Stuart B. Wyithe | Zendy; Abraham Loeb | Zendy

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Was the Universe Reionized by Massive Metal-free Stars?

Author(s) -

J. Stuart B. Wyithe,

Abraham Loeb

Publication year - 2003

Publication title -

the astrophysical journal

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

eISSN - 1538-4357

pISSN - 0004-637X

DOI - 10.1086/375682

Subject(s) - reionization , physics , astrophysics , intergalactic travel , stars , initial mass function , galaxy , intergalactic star , cmb cold spot , star formation , supernova , astronomy , universe , cosmic microwave background , cosmic cancer database , redshift , galaxy merger , anisotropy , quantum mechanics

The WMAP satellite has measured a large optical depth to electron scatteringafter cosmological recombination of 0.17+-0.04, implying significantreionization of the primordial gas only ~200 million years after the big bang.However, the most recent overlap of intergalactic HII regions must have occuredat z<9 based on the Lyman-alpha forest constraint on the thermal history of theintergalactic medium. Here we argue that a first generation of metal-free starswith a heavy (rather than Salpeter) mass function is therefore required toaccount for much of the inferred optical depth. This conclusion holds iffeedback regulates star formation in early dwarf galaxies as observed inpresent-day dwarfs.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, replaced to match version accepted by ApJ Letter

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