Formation of compact stellar clusters by high-redshift galaxy outflows. II. effect of turbulence and metal-line cooling

William J. Gray, Evan Scannapieco

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

In the primordial universe, low-mass structures with virial temperatures less than 104K were unable to cool by atomic line transitions, leading to a strong suppression of star formation. On the other hand, these "minihalos" were highly prone to triggered star formation by interactions from nearby galaxy outflows. In Gray & Scannapieco, we explored the impact of nonequilibrium chemistry on these interactions. Here we turn our attention to the role of metals, carrying out a series of high-resolution three-dimensional adaptive mesh refinement simulations that include both metal cooling and a subgrid turbulent mixing model. Despite the presence of an additional coolant, we again find that outflow-minihalo interactions produce a distribution of dense, massive stellar clusters. We also find that these clusters are evenly enriched with metals to a final abundance of Z ≈ 10 -2 Z . As in our previous simulations, all of these properties suggest that these interactions may have given rise to present-day halo globular clusters.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number88
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume733
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2011

Keywords

  • abundances
  • galaxies: formation
  • galaxies: high-redshift
  • galaxies: star clusters: general
  • globular clusters: general
  • shock waves

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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