Population III Stars Metallicity

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SUMMARY

Population III stars were characterized by extremely low metallicity, often approaching metal-free conditions, and required significantly larger masses, sometimes exceeding hundreds of solar masses, for formation. The discussion highlights that metallicity influences stellar evolution by affecting cooling rates and temperatures, which in turn impacts the Jeans mass and the resultant stellar mass. The relationship between metallicity and stellar mass is underscored, suggesting that lower metallicity leads to less cooling, resulting in higher temperatures and consequently larger stellar masses.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of stellar evolution and formation processes
  • Knowledge of metallicity and its role in astrophysics
  • Familiarity with the concept of Jeans mass in astrophysics
  • Basic comprehension of gas dynamics in star formation
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the impact of metallicity on stellar evolution in Population III stars
  • Explore the Jeans mass concept and its implications for star formation
  • Study the cooling processes in gas clouds and their effects on stellar mass
  • Review the provided paper on Population III stars for deeper insights
USEFUL FOR

Astronomers, astrophysicists, and students studying stellar formation and evolution, particularly those interested in the early universe and the characteristics of Population III stars.

Drakkith
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Early Population III stars in the universe were very metal poor if not metal free and were apparently required to be much larger than todays stars, up to hundreds of solar masses, to form. What does the metallicity have to do with this?
 
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Metals can catalyze fusion, metals can emit light and reduce the pressure in gas clouds.
Put everything in a simulation, and you might get some estimate for stellar masses somehow - no idea how this works in detail.
 
Are you sure this is a causation rather than a correlation? Perhaps older stars were larger for some other reason? I can't see how metallicity would have THIS much of a drastic effect on stellar masses, I would suspect there has to be some other cause along with the metallicity.
 
I have no idea Matterwave. I've merely read that the reason super massive stars were the only ones that could form was because of metallicity. Or at least that was what I got from it.
 
I think you can summarize the idea simply: No metals = Less cooling = Higher temperatures = Higher Jeans mass = Higher stellar mass

This seems to be a good overview of the situation (pdf): http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0102503v3.pdf
 
Nice paper, thanks Nick!
 

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