arXiv subjects

Simon Glover

Publications and source records attributed to Simon Glover.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Effects of binary stellar populations on direct collapse black hole formation

The critical Lyman--Werner flux required for direct collapse blackholes (DCBH) formation, or J$_{crit}$, depends on the shape of the irradiating spectral energy distribution (SED). The SEDs employed thus far have been representative of {realistic} single stellar populations. We study the effect of binary stellar populations on the formation of DCBH, as a result of their contribution to the Lyman--Werner radiation field. Although binary populations with ages $>$ 10 Myr yield a larger LW photon output, we find that the corresponding values of J$_{crit}$ can be up to 100 times higher than single stellar populations. We attribute this to the shape of the binary SEDs as they produce a sub--critical rate of H$^-$ photodetaching 0.76 eV photons as compared to single stellar populations, reaffirming the role that H$^-$ plays in DCBH formation. This further corroborates the idea that DCBH formation is better understood in terms of a critical region in the H$_2$--H$^-$ photo--destruction rate parameter space, rather than a single value of LW flux.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

New constraints on direct collapse black hole formation in the early Universe

Direct collapse black holes (DCBH) have been proposed as a solution to the challenge of assembling supermassive black holes by $z>6$ to explain the bright quasars observed at this epoch. The formation of a DCBH seed with $\rm M_{BH}\sim10^{4-5}\ \rm M_{\odot}$ requires a pristine atomic-cooling halo to be illuminated by an external radiation field that is sufficiently strong to entirely suppress H$_{2}$ cooling in the halo. Many previous studies have attempted to constrain the critical specific intensity that is likely required to suppress H$_{2}$ cooling, denoted as $J_{\rm crit}$. However, these studies have typically assumed that the incident external radiation field can be modeled with a black-body spectrum. Under this assumption, it is possible to derive a {unique} value for $J_{\rm crit}$ that depends only on the temperature of the black-body. In this study we consider a more realistic spectral energy distribution (SED) for the external source of radiation that depends entirely on its star formation history and age. The rate of destruction of the species responsible for suppressing molecular hydrogen cooling depends on the detailed shape of the SED. Therefore the value of $J_{\rm crit}$ is tied to the shape of the incident SED of the neighbouring galaxy. We fit a parametric form to the rates of destruction of H$_2$ and H$^-$ that permit direct collapse. Owing to this, we find that $J_{\rm crit}$ is not a fixed threshold but can lie anywhere in the range $J_{\rm crit} \sim 0.5$--$10^{3}$, depending on the details of the source stellar population.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

Simulating the formation of massive seed black holes in the early Universe. I: An improved chemical model

The direct collapse model for the formation of massive seed black holes in the early Universe attempts to explain the observed number density of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at $z \sim 6$ by assuming that they grow from seeds with masses M > 10000 solar masses that form by the direct collapse of metal-free gas in atomic cooling halos in which H2 cooling is suppressed by a strong extragalactic radiation field. The viability of this model depends on the strength of the radiation field required to suppress H2 cooling, $J_{\rm crit}$: if this is too large, then too few seeds will form to explain the observed number density of SMBHs. In order to determine $J_{\rm crit}$ reliably, we need to be able to accurately model the formation and destruction of H2 in gas illuminated by an extremely strong radiation field. In this paper, we use a reaction-based reduction technique to analyze the chemistry of H2 in these conditions, allowing us to identify the key chemical reactions that are responsible for determining the value of $J_{\rm crit}$. We construct a reduced network of 26 reactions that allows us to determine $J_{\rm crit}$ accurately, and compare it with previous treatments in the literature. We show that previous studies have often omitted one or more important chemical reactions, and that these omissions introduce an uncertainty of up to a factor of three into previous determinations of $J_{\rm crit}$.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

The Milky Way as a Star Formation Engine

The cycling of material from the interstellar medium (ISM) into stars and the return of stellar ejecta into the ISM is the engine that drives the "galactic ecology" in normal spirals, a cornerstone in the formation and evolution of galaxies through cosmic time. Major observational and theoretical challenges need to be addressed in determining the processes responsible for converting the low-density ISM into dense molecular clouds, forming dense filaments and clumps, fragmenting them into stars, OB associations and bound clusters, and characterizing the feedback that limits the rate and efficiency of star formation. This formidable task can be now effectively attacked thanks to the combination of new global-scale surveys of the Milky Way Galactic Plane from infrared to radio wavelengths, offering the possibility of bridging the gap between local and extragalactic star formation studies. The Herschel, Spitzer and WISE mid to far infrared continuum surveys, complemented by analogue surveys from ground-based facilities in the millimetre and radio wavelengths, enables us to measure the Galactic distribution and physical properties of dust on all scales and in all components of the ISM from diffuse clouds to filamentary complexes and tens of thousands of dense clumps. A complementary suite of spectroscopic surveys in various atomic and molecular tracers is providing the chemical fingerprinting of dense clumps and filaments, as well as essential kinematic information to derive distances and thus transform panoramic data into a 3D representation. The latest results emerging from these Galaxy-scale surveys are reviewed. New insights into cloud formation and evolution, filaments and their relationship to channeling gas onto gravitationally-bound clumps, the properties of these clumps, density thresholds for gravitational collapse, and star and cluster formation rates are discussed.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2012

Small-Scale Dynamo Action in Primordial Halos

The first galaxies form due to gravitational collapse of primordial halos. During this collapse, weak magnetic seed fields get amplified exponentially by the small-scale dynamo - a process converting kinetic energy from turbulence into magnetic energy. We use the Kazantsev theory, which describes the small-scale dynamo analytically, to study magnetic field amplification for different turbulent velocity correlation functions. For incompressible turbulence (Kolmogorov turbulence), we find that the growth rate is proportional to the square root of the hydrodynamic Reynolds number, Re^(1/2). In the case of highly compressible turbulence (Burgers turbulence) the growth rate increases proportional to Re^(1/3). With a detailed chemical network we are able to follow the chemical evolution and determine the kinetic and magnetic viscosities (due to Ohmic and ambipolar diffusion) during the collapse of the halo. This way, we can calculate the growth rate of the small-scale dynamo quantitatively and predict the evolution of the small-scale magnetic field. As the magnetic energy is transported to larger scales on the local eddy-timescale, we obtain an estimate for the magnetic field on the Jeans scale. Even there, we find that equipartition with the kinetic energy is reached on small timescales. Dynamically relevant field structures can thus be expected already during the formation of the first objects in the Universe.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

The Small-Scale Dynamo and Non-Ideal MHD in Primordial Star Formation

We study the amplification of magnetic fields during the formation of primordial halos. The turbulence generated by gravitational infall motions during the formation of the first stars and galaxies can amplify magnetic fields very efficiently and on short timescales up to dynamically significant values. Using the Kazantsev theory, which describes the so-called small-scale dynamo - a magnetohydrodynamical process converting kinetic energy from turbulence into magnetic energy - we can then calculate the growth rate of the small-scale magnetic field. Our calculations are based on a detailed chemical network and we include non-ideal magnetohydrodynamical effects such as ambipolar diffusion and Ohmic dissipation. We follow the evolution of the magnetic field up to larger scales until saturation occurs on the Jeans scale. Assuming a weak magnetic seed field generated by the Biermann battery process, both Burgers and Kolmogorov turbulence lead to saturation within a rather small density range. Such fields are likely to become relevant after the formation of a protostellar disk and, thus, could influence the formation of the first stars and galaxies in the Universe.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

Simulations on a Moving Mesh: The Clustered Formation of Population III Protostars

The cosmic dark ages ended a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, when the first stars began to fill the universe with new light. It has generally been argued that these stars formed in isolation and were extremely massive - perhaps 100 times as massive as the Sun. In a recent study, Clark and collaborators showed that this picture requires revision. They demonstrated that the accretion disks that build up around Population III stars are strongly susceptible to fragmentation and that the first stars should therefore form in clusters rather than in isolation. We here use a series of high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations performed with the moving mesh code AREPO to follow up on this proposal and to study the influence of environmental parameters on the level of fragmentation. We model the collapse of five independent minihalos from cosmological initial conditions, through the runaway condensation of their central gas clouds, to the formation of the first protostar, and beyond for a further 1000 years. During this latter accretion phase, we represent the optically thick regions of protostars by sink particles. Gas accumulates rapidly in the circumstellar disk around the first protostar, fragmenting vigorously to produce a small group of protostars. After an initial burst, gravitational instability recurs periodically, forming additional protostars with masses ranging from ~ 0.1 to 10 M_sun. Although the shape, multiplicity, and normalization of the protostellar mass function depend on the details of the sink-particle algorithm, fragmentation into protostars with diverse masses occurs in all cases, confirming earlier reports of Population III stars forming in clusters. Depending on the efficiency of later accretion and merging, Population III stars may enter the main sequence in clusters and with much more diverse masses than are commonly assumed.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2008

The ISM in spiral galaxies: can cooling in spiral shocks produce molecular clouds?

We investigate the thermodynamics of the ISM and the formation of molecular hydrogen through numerical simulations of spiral galaxies. The model follows the chemical, thermal and dynamical response of the disc to an external spiral potential. Self-gravity and magnetic fields are not included. The calculations demonstrate that gas can cool rapidly when subject to a spiral shock. Molecular clouds in the spiral arms arise through a combination of compression of the ISM by the spiral shock and orbit crowding. These results highlight that local self-gravity is not required to form molecular clouds. Self-shielding provides a sharp transition density, below which gas is essentially atomic, and above which the molecular gas fraction is >0.001. The timescale for gas to move between these regimes is very rapid (<~1 Myr). From this stage, the majority of gas generally takes between 10 to 20 Myr to obtain high H$_{2}$ fractions (>50 %). Although our calculations are unable to resolve turbulent motions on scales smaller than the spiral arm and do not include self-gravity. True cloud formation timescales are therefore expected to be even shorter. The mass budget of the disc is dominated by cold gas residing in the spiral arms. Between 50 and 75 % of this gas is in the atomic phase. When this gas leaves the spiral arm and drops below the self-shielding limit it is heated by the galactic radiation field. Consequently, most of the volume in the interarm regions is filled with warm atomic gas. However, some cold spurs and clumps can survive in interarm regions for periods comparable to the interarm passage timescale. Altogether between 7 and 40% of the gas in our disc is molecular, depending on the surface density of the calculation, with approximately 20% molecular for a surface density comparable to the solar neighbourhood.

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