Feedback from Galaxy Formation: Production and Photodissociation of Primordial Molecular Hydrogen

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  • 15 December 2000
Abstract
We use 1D radiative transfer simulations to study the evolution of H_2 gas-phase (H^- catalyzed) formation and photo-dissociation regions in the primordial universe. We find a new positive feedback mechanism capable of producing shells of H_2 in the intergalactic medium, which are optically thick in the Lyman-Werner bands. This feedback effect is important in reducing the H_2 dissociating background flux and the size of photo-dissociation spheres around each luminous object. The background opacity of the IGM in the H_2 Lyman-Werner bands is \tau_{H_2} ~ 1-2 if x_{H_2}=2 x 10^-6, about 6 times greater than found by Haiman et al. (2000). Therefore, the relic molecular hydrogen can decrease the photo-dissociation rate by about an order of magnitude. The problem is relevant to the formation of small primordial galaxies with masses M_{DM} < 10^7 M_\odot, that rely on molecular hydrogen cooling to collapse. Alternatively, the universe may have remained dark for several hundred million years after the birth of the first stars, until galaxies with virial temperature T_{vir} > 10^4 K formed.

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