Abstract
The nature of the first generation of stars in the Universe remains largely unknown. Observations imply the existence of massive primordial stars early in the history of the universe, and the standard theory for the growth of cosmic structure predicts that structures grow hierarchically through gravitational instability. We have developed an ab initio computer simulation of the formation of primordial stars that follows the relevant atomic and molecular processes in a primordial gas in an expanding universe. The results show that primeval density fluctuations left over from the Big Bang can drive the formation of a tiny protostar with a mass of just one percent of the sun. The protostar is a seed for the subsequent formation of a massive primordial star.Supporting Online Material
Online Science article (Full text)
The Cosmic Rosetta Stone: A companion Perspective article written by Dr. Volker Bromm
Main plot (Figure 1 in the article)
The Making of the First Star: A Wall Street Journal article written by Robert Lee Hotz
Links
Department of Physics, Nagoya University Naoki Yoshida (Research highlights)
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan Kazuyuki Omukai
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Lars Hernquist
Science magazineHomepage of Dr. Volker Bromm at University of Texas
First stars and dark matter (An introduction by Gao Liang at Durham University)
Virgo Supercomputing Consortium
Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, The University of Tokyo
Written by Naoki Yoshida (Nagoya University)