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FIRST
STARS IN THE
UNIVERSE
Exceptionally massive and bright, the earliest stars
changed the course of cosmic history
COSMIC TIMELINE
FROM THE DARK AGES ...
After the emission of the cosmic microwave background radiation (about 400,000 years after
the big bang), the universe grew increasingly cold and dark. But cosmic structure gradually ars
billion ye
evolved from the density fluctuations left over from the big bang. 12 to 14
years
1 billion
on years
100 milli
years
1 million
BIG
BANG
Emission of
cosmic background
radiation Dark ages
First stars
First supernovae
... TO THE RENAISSANCE and
Protogalaxy
The appearance of the first stars and protogalaxies black holes
mergers
(perhaps as early as 100 million years after the big bang) set off
Modern galaxies
a chain of events that transformed the universe.
Ultraviolet
radiation
Supernova
Black hole
on the physics of the hydrogen molecule that ended the cosmic dark ages and brought about the birth of the first stars. Larson, a pro-
and only secondarily on the cosmologi- fessor of astronomy at Yale University, joined the faculty there in 1968 after receiving his Ph.D.
cal model or simulation technique. One from the California Institute of Technology. His research interests include the theory of star for-
reason is that molecular hydrogen can- mation as well as the evolution of galaxies. Bromm earned his Ph.D. at Yale in 2000 and is now
not cool the gas below 200 kelvins, mak- an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin, where he focuses
ing this a lower limit to the temperature on the emergence of cosmic structure. The authors acknowledge the many contributions of
of the first star-forming clumps. Anoth- Paolo Coppi, professor of astronomy at Yale, to their joint work on the formation of the first stars.
estimate how much of the gas in the uni- years after the big bang. In an important would have ionized helium at the same
verse condensed into the first stars, even breakthrough, NASAs Wilkinson Mi- time. On the other hand, if the first stars
as little as one part in 100,000 could have crowave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) has were not quite so massive, the helium
been enough for these stars to ionize measured the fundamental properties of must have been ionized later by energetic
much of the remaining gas. Once the first the universe with high precision. These radiation from sources such as quasars.
stars started shining, a growing bubble of include the age of the universe precise- Future observations of distant objects
ionized gas would have formed around ly 13.7 billion years the proportions of may help determine when the universes
each one. As more and more stars formed dark and luminous matter, and dark en- helium was ionized.
over hundreds of millions of years, the ergy in the cosmos. The biggest surprise: If the first stars were indeed very mas-
bubbles of ionized gas would have scrutinizing the subtle patterns that were sive, they would also have had relatively
merged, and the intergalactic gas would imprinted into the photons of the cosmic short lifetimesonly a few million years.
have become completely ionized. microwave background, WMAP has in- Some of the stars would have exploded
Scientists from the California Insti- dicated that ultraviolet radiation from as supernovae, expelling the metals they
tute of Technology and the Sloan Digi- the first stars ionized atomic hydrogen produced. Stars that are between 100
tal Sky Survey have found evidence for and helium, providing an abundance of and 250 times as massive as the sun are
the final stages of this ionization process. free electrons early in cosmic history. Mi- predicted to blow up completely in ener-
They observed strong absorption of ul- crowave background photons were po- getic explosions, and some of the first
traviolet light in the spectra of quasars larized as they interacted with these elec- stars most likely had masses in this range.
that date from about 900 million years trons. An early generation of massive Because metals are much more effective
after the big bang. The results suggest Population III stars seems to be required than hydrogen in cooling star-forming
that the last patches of neutral hydrogen to account for the surprising strength of clouds and allowing them to collapse
gas were being ionized at that time. A the polarization patterns. into stars, the production and dispersal
different probe has recently provided Helium requires more energy to ion- of even a small amount could have had
clues to the earliest stages of reioniza- ize than hydrogen does, but if the first a major effect on star formation.
tion, already occurring only 200 million stars were as massive as predicted, they Working in collaboration with An-