Constraining the primordial initial mass function with stellar archaeology

• Published in: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol. 447; no. 4; pp. 3892 - 3908
• Main Authors: Hartwig, Tilman, Bromm, Volker, Klessen, Ralf S., Glover, Simon C. O.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Oxford University Press 11.03.2015; Oxford University Press (OUP): Policy P - Oxford Open Option A
• Subjects: Astronomy; Astrophysics; Confidence intervals; Cosmology; Dark matter; Fossils; Halos; Initial mass function; Milky Way; Monte Carlo methods; Monte Carlo simulation; Sampling; Sciences of the Universe; Stars; Stars & galaxies; Surveys; Germany, Hamburg; Galaxy: stellar content; reionization; Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies; stars: Population III; dark ages; first stars; methods: analytical; Galaxy: evolution; early Universe

We present a new near-field cosmological probe of the initial mass function (IMF) of the first stars. Specifically, we constrain the lower mass limit of the Population III (Pop III) IMF with the total number of stars in large, unbiased surveys of the Milky Way. We model the early star formation hist...