2000/02/01 by Tom Abel, Zoltán Haiman, Abel, Tom +2
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0002031
9 pages, Invited Review in "H2 in Space", Paris, France, 28 September-1st October 1999, ed. F. Combes and Guillaume Pineau des Forets
openalex publication_date 2000/02/01 · arxiv created 2000/02/08 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We review the relevance of H2 molecules for structure formation in cosmology. Molecules are important at high redshifts, when the first collapsed structures appear with typical temperatures of a few hundred Kelvin. In these chemically pristine clouds, radiative cooling is dominated H2 molecules. As a result, H2 ``astro-chemistry'' is likely to determine the epoch when the first astrophysical objects appear. We summarize results of recent three-dimensional simulations. A discussion of the effects of feedback, and implications for the reionization of the universe is also given.