2008/07/31 by Naoki Yoshida, Kazuyuki Omukai, Lars Hernquist · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/science.1160259
published as Science 321 (2008) 669-671 · Science, August 1st issue. Matched to the published version. The SOM is found at http://www.a.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~nyoshida/protostar.html
openalex publication_date 2008/07/31 · arxiv created 2008/08/08 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The nature of the first generation of stars in the universe remains largely unknown. Observations imply the existence of massive primordial stars early in the history of the universe, and the standard theory for the growth of cosmic structure predicts that structures grow hierarchically through gravitational instability. We have developed an ab initio computer simulation of the formation of primordial stars that follows the relevant atomic and molecular processes in a primordial gas in an expanding universe. The results show that primeval density fluctuations left over from the Big Bang can drive the formation of a tiny protostar with a mass 1% that of the Sun. The protostar is a seed for the subsequent formation of a massive primordial star.