The formation of massive Pop III stars in the presence of turbulence

Understand

Population III stars forming in the infant universe at z=30 heralded the end of the cosmic dark ages.

• They are presumed to be assembled in so-called minihaloes with virial temperatures of a few thousand K where collapse is triggered by molecular hydrogen cooling.
• A central question concerns their final masses, and whether fragmentation occurs during their formation.
• While studies employing Lagrangian codes suggest fragmentation via a self-gravitating disk, recent high resolution simulations indicated that disk formation is suppressed.