2005/12/31 by R. Salvaterra, M. Magliocchetti, Andrea Ferrara +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1745-3933.2006.00145.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.Lett.368:L6-L9,2006 · 4 pages, 2 figures, MNRAS in press
arxiv created 2006/01/16 · openalex publication_date 2006/02/24 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2020/11/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract Kashlinsky et al. find a significant cosmic infrared background fluctuation excess on angular scales ≳50 arcsec that cannot be explained by instrumental noise or local foregrounds. The excess has been tentatively attributed to emission from primordial, very massive (Population III, hereafter PopIII) stars formed ≤ 200 Myr after the Big Bang. Using an evolutionary model motivated by independent observations and including various feedback processes, we find that PopIII stars can contribute <40 per cent of the total background intensity (νJν∼ 1–2 nW m−2 sr−1 in the 0.8–8 μm range) produced by all galaxies (hosting both PopIII and PopII stars) at z≥ 5. The infrared fluctuation excess is instead very precisely accounted for by the clustering signal of galaxies at z≥ 5, predominantly hosting PopII stars with masses and properties similar to the present ones.