skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Attention:

The NSF Public Access Repository (PAR) system and access will be unavailable from 11:00 PM ET on Friday, May 16 until 2:00 AM ET on Saturday, May 17 due to maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience.


Title: The role of faint population III supernovae in forming CEMP stars in ultra-faint dwarf galaxies
ABSTRACT Carbon enhanced metal poor (CEMP)-no stars, a subset of CEMP stars ($$\rm [C/Fe]\ge 0.7$$ and $$\rm [Fe/H]\lesssim -1$$) have been discovered in ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies, with $$M_{\rm vir}\approx 10^8{\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot }$$ and $$M_{\ast }\approx 10^3-10^4{\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot }$$ at z = 0, as well as in the halo of the Milky Way (MW). These CEMP-no stars are local fossils that may reflect the properties of the first (Pop III) and second (Pop II) generation of stars. However, cosmological simulations have struggled to reproduce the observed level of carbon enhancement of the known CEMP-no stars. Here, we present new cosmological hydrodynamic zoom-in simulations of isolated UFDs that achieve a gas mass resolution of $$m_{\rm gas}\approx 60{\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot }$$. We include enrichment from Pop III faint supernovae (SNe), with ESN = 0.6 × 1051 erg, to understand the origin of CEMP-no stars. We confirm that Pop III and Pop II stars are mainly responsible for the formation of CEMP and C-normal stars, respectively. New to this study, we find that a majority of CEMP-no stars in the observed UFDs and the MW halo can be explained by Pop III SNe with normal explosion energy (ESN = 1.2 × 1051 erg) and Pop II enrichment, but faint SNe might also be needed to produce CEMP-no stars with $$\rm [C/Fe]\gtrsim 2$$, corresponding to the absolute carbon abundance of $$\rm A(C)\gtrsim 6.0$$. Furthermore, we find that while we create CEMP-no stars with high carbon ratio $$\rm [C/Fe]\approx 3-4$$, by adopting faint SNe, it is still challenging to reproduce CEMP-no stars with extreme level of carbon abundance of $$\rm A(C)\approx 7.0-7.5$$, observed both in the MW halo and UFDs.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1927130
PAR ID:
10296853
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume:
502
Issue:
1
ISSN:
0035-8711
Page Range / eLocation ID:
1 to 14
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. null (Ed.)
    ABSTRACT Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars are the living fossils holding records of chemical enrichment from early generations of stars. In this work, we perform a set of numerical simulations of the enrichment from a supernova (SN) of a first generation of metal-free (Pop III) star and the gravitational collapse of the enriched cloud, considering all relevant cooling/heating processes and chemical reactions as well as the growth of dust grains. We adopt faint SN models for the first time with progenitor masses MPopIII = 13–$$80 \ {\rm M_{\bigodot }}$$, which yield C-enhanced abundance patterns ([C/Fe] = 4.57–4.75) through mixing and fallback of innermost layers of the ejecta. This model also considers the formation and destruction of dust grains. We find that the metals ejected by the SN can be partly re-accreted by the same dark matter minihalo, and carbon abundance of the enriched cloud A(C) = 3.80–5.06 is lower than the abundance range of observed CEMP stars (A(C) ≳ 6) because the mass of the metals ejected by faint SNe is smaller than normal core-collapse SNe due to extensive fallback. We also find that cloud fragmentation is induced by gas cooling from carbonaceous grains for $$M_{\rm Pop III}= 13 \ {\rm M_{\bigodot }}$$ even with the lowest iron abundance [Fe/H] ∼ −9. This leads to the formation of low-mass stars, and these ‘giga metal-poor’ stars can survive until the present-day Universe and may be found by future observations. 
    more » « less
  2. ABSTRACT We study a suite of extremely high-resolution cosmological Feedback in Realistic Environments simulations of dwarf galaxies ($$M_{\rm halo} \lesssim 10^{10}\rm \, M_{\odot }$$), run to z = 0 with $$30\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$$ resolution, sufficient (for the first time) to resolve the internal structure of individual supernovae remnants within the cooling radius. Every halo with $$M_{\rm halo} \gtrsim 10^{8.6}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$$ is populated by a resolved stellar galaxy, suggesting very low-mass dwarfs may be ubiquitous in the field. Our ultra-faint dwarfs (UFDs; $$M_{\ast }\lt 10^{5}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$$) have their star formation (SF) truncated early (z ≳ 2), likely by reionization, while classical dwarfs ($$M_{\ast }\gt 10^{5}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$$) continue forming stars to z < 0.5. The systems have bursty star formation histories, forming most of their stars in periods of elevated SF strongly clustered in both space and time. This allows our dwarf with M*/Mhalo > 10−4 to form a dark matter core $${\gt}200\rm \, pc$$, while lower mass UFDs exhibit cusps down to $${\lesssim}100\rm \, pc$$, as expected from energetic arguments. Our dwarfs with $$M_{\ast }\gt 10^{4}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$$ have half-mass radii (R1/2) in agreement with Local Group (LG) dwarfs (dynamical mass versus R1/2 and stellar rotation also resemble observations). The lowest mass UFDs are below surface brightness limits of current surveys but are potentially visible in next-generation surveys (e.g. LSST). The stellar metallicities are lower than in LG dwarfs; this may reflect pre-enrichment of the LG by the massive hosts or Pop-III stars. Consistency with lower resolution studies implies that our simulations are numerically robust (for a given physical model). 
    more » « less
  3. null (Ed.)
    ABSTRACT ASASSN-18am/SN 2018gk is a newly discovered member of the rare group of luminous, hydrogen-rich supernovae (SNe) with a peak absolute magnitude of MV ≈ −20 mag that is in between normal core-collapse SNe and superluminous SNe. These SNe show no prominent spectroscopic signatures of ejecta interacting with circumstellar material (CSM), and their powering mechanism is debated. ASASSN-18am declines extremely rapidly for a Type II SN, with a photospheric-phase decline rate of ∼6.0 mag (100 d)−1. Owing to the weakening of H i and the appearance of He i in its later phases, ASASSN-18am is spectroscopically a Type IIb SN with a partially stripped envelope. However, its photometric and spectroscopic evolution shows significant differences from typical SNe IIb. Using a radiative diffusion model, we find that the light curve requires a high synthesized 56Ni mass $$M_{\rm Ni} \sim 0.4\, \rm {M_{\odot }}$$ and ejecta with high kinetic energy Ekin = (7–10) × 1051 erg. Introducing a magnetar central engine still requires $$M_{\rm Ni} \sim 0.3\, \rm {M_{\odot }}$$ and Ekin = 3 × 1051 erg. The high 56Ni mass is consistent with strong iron-group nebular lines in its spectra, which are also similar to several SNe Ic-BL with high 56Ni yields. The earliest spectrum shows ‘flash ionization’ features, from which we estimate a mass-loss rate of $$\dot{M}\approx 2\times 10^{-4} \, \rm \rm {M_{\odot }}\,yr^{-1}$$. This wind density is too low to power the luminous light curve by ejecta–CSM interaction. We measure expansion velocities as high as 17 000 $$\rm {\, km\, s^{-1}}$$ for Hα, which is remarkably high compared to other SNe II. We estimate an oxygen core mass of 1.8–3.4 M⊙ using the [O i] luminosity measured from a nebular-phase spectrum, implying a progenitor with a zero-age main-sequence mass of 19–26 M⊙. 
    more » « less
  4. ABSTRACT The shape of the low-mass (faint) end of the galaxy stellar mass function (SMF) or ultraviolet luminosity function (UVLF) at $$z \gtrsim 6$$ is an open question for understanding which galaxies primarily drove cosmic reionization. Resolved photometry of Local Group low-mass galaxies allows us to reconstruct their star formation histories, stellar masses, and UV luminosities at early times, and this fossil record provides a powerful ‘near-far’ technique for studying the reionization-era SMF/UVLF, probing orders of magnitude lower in mass than direct HST/JWST observations. Using 882 low-mass ($$M_{\rm star}\lesssim 10^{9}\, \rm {M_\odot }$$) galaxies across 11 Milky Way (MW)- and Local Group-analogue environments from the FIRE-2 cosmological baryonic zoom-in simulations, we characterize their progenitors at $$z=6\!-\!9$$, the mergers/disruption of those progenitors over time, and how well their present-day fossil record traces the high-redshift SMF. A present-day galaxy with $$M_{\rm star}\sim 10^5\, \rm {M_\odot }$$ ($$\sim 10^9\, \rm {M_\odot }$$) had $$\approx 1$$ ($$\approx 30$$) progenitors at $$z\approx 7$$, and its main progenitor comprised $$\approx 100~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$ ($$\approx 10~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$) of the total stellar mass of all its progenitors at $$z\approx 7$$. We show that although only $$\sim 15~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$ of the early population of low-mass galaxies survives to present day, the fossil record of surviving Local Group galaxies accurately traces the low-mass slope of the SMF at $$z \sim 6 \!-\! 9$$. We find no obvious mass dependence to the mergers and accretion, and show that applying this reconstruction technique to just low-mass galaxies at $z = 0$ and not the MW/M31 hosts correctly recovers the slope of the SMF down to $$M_{\rm star} \sim 10^{4.5}\, \rm {{\rm M}_{\odot }}$$ at $$z \gtrsim 6$$. Thus, we validate the ‘near-far’ approach as an unbiased tool for probing low-mass reionization-era galaxies. 
    more » « less
  5. ABSTRACT The star formation and gas content of satellite galaxies around the Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda (M31) are depleted relative to more isolated galaxies in the Local Group (LG) at fixed stellar mass. We explore the environmental regulation of gas content and quenching of star formation in z = 0 galaxies at $$M_{*}=10^{5\!-\!10}\, \rm {M}_{\odot }$$ around 14 MW-mass hosts from the Feedback In Realistic Environments 2 (FIRE-2) simulations. Lower mass satellites ($$M_{*}\lesssim 10^7\, \rm {M}_{\odot }$$) are mostly quiescent and higher mass satellites ($$M_{*}\gtrsim 10^8\, \rm {M}_{\odot }$$) are mostly star forming, with intermediate-mass satellites ($$M_{*}\approx 10^{7\!-\!8}\, \rm {M}_{\odot }$$) split roughly equally between quiescent and star forming. Hosts with more gas in their circumgalactic medium have a higher quiescent fraction of massive satellites ($$M_{*}=10^{8\!-\!9}\, \rm {M}_{\odot }$$). We find no significant dependence on isolated versus paired (LG-like) host environments, and the quiescent fractions of satellites around MW-mass and Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)-mass hosts from the FIRE-2 simulations are remarkably similar. Environmental effects that lead to quenching can also occur as pre-processing in low-mass groups prior to MW infall. Lower mass satellites typically quenched before MW infall as central galaxies or rapidly during infall into a low-mass group or a MW-mass galaxy. Most intermediate- to high-mass quiescent satellites have experienced ≥1–2 pericentre passages (≈2.5–5 Gyr) within a MW-mass halo. Most galaxies with $$M_{*}\gtrsim 10^{6.5}\, \rm {M}_{\odot }$$ did not quench before falling into a host, indicating a possible upper mass limit for isolated quenching. The simulations reproduce the average trend in the LG quiescent fraction across the full range of satellite stellar masses. Though the simulations are consistent with the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs (SAGA) survey’s quiescent fraction at $$M_{*}\gtrsim 10^8\, \rm {M}_{\odot }$$, they do not generally reproduce SAGA’s turnover at lower masses. 
    more » « less