Ostriker and Gnedin [46] have carried out high resolution numerical simulations of the
reheating and reionization of the Universe due to star formation
bursts triggered by molecular hydrogen cooling. Accounting for
the chemistry of the primeval hydrogen/helium plasma,
self-shielding of the gas, radiative cooling, and a
phenomenological model of star formation, they find that two
distinct star populations form: the first generation pop III from
cooling prior to reheating at redshift
; and the second generation pop II at
z
<10 when the virial temperature of the gas clumps reaches
K and hydrogen line cooling becomes efficient. Star formation
slows in the intermittent epoch due to the depletion of
by photo-destruction and reheating. In addition, the objects
which formed pop III stars also initiate pop II sequences when
their virial temperatures reach
K through continued mass accretion.
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Computational Cosmology: from the Early Universe to the
Large Scale Structure
Peter Anninos http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-1998-9 © Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. ISSN 1433-8351 Problems/Comments to livrev@aei-potsdam.mpg.de |