How Big Can The Universe's First Starbursts Get?

A new paper by Tae Bong Jeon from the Cosmic Frontier Center at the University of Texas at Austin explores how massive the first starbursts in the universe could be. The authors model the formation of these stars and find that they could be extremely massive, potentially reaching up to 100 solar masses. The study suggests that these starbursts might be detected by the James Webb Space Telescope, though the timing of their appearance is uncertain. The paper also highlights the role of Lyman-Werner (LW) radiation in delaying the collapse of gas clouds, which is crucial for the formation of these massive stars.

The authors calculate that with the help of gravitational lensing, it is possible to detect up to nine Pop III starbursts using surveys like GLIMPSE. However, the detection requires a specific alignment between the lensing galaxy and the target starburst, which is rare due to the extreme conditions needed to form these starbursts. The study also notes that the UV radiation from nearby supernovae can reach the pristine gas clouds much more quickly than metal particles, making it difficult to distinguish between Pop III starbursts and Pop II stars.

The paper provides a detailed model of how the gas clouds can delay their collapse using LW radiation, and it shows that the outer layers of the halo remain hot while the inner core becomes dense and forms a star. The authors emphasize that the conditions for these starbursts are rare, and the detection of such objects would require significant luck and specific observational techniques. The study is a crucial step in understanding the formation and evolution of the first stars in the universe.

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