First stars in the universe were heavier than 100,000 suns, scientists say
(ORDO NEWS) — Astronomers recently discovered that complex processes in the nascent universe may have led to the development of supermassive stars, each weighing 100,000 times the mass of the sun.
We currently have no information about the formation of the first stars in the universe, which scientists believe happened when the cosmos was only a few hundred million years old.
To understand how the first stars formed, astronomers ran sophisticated computer simulations.
Early estimates by astronomers indicated that the first stars could be hundreds of times more massive than the Sun, and later modeling showed that they would be larger than usual.
Recently, a team of researchers ran a new round of simulations and came up with a very surprising conclusion. Their modeling focused on a phenomenon called cold accretion.
That is, in order to create large stars, it is necessary to collect a lot of material very quickly into a very small volume.
This must be done without raising the temperature of the material, because warmer material will self-destruct. Therefore, some method of removing heat from the material will be required, as it degrades very quickly.
Earlier simulations have documented the appearance of dense pockets inside early galaxies that are rapidly cooling from emitted radiation, but lacked the resolution needed to track their further evolution.
Simulations have shown that large streams of cold, dense matter can hit an accretion disk at the center of giant clumps of matter.
When this happens, a shock wave is formed. This shock wave quickly destabilizes the gas and causes the agglomerations of matter to collapse instantly.
These large pockets can be tens of thousands of times more massive than the Sun, and in some cases even 100,000 times more massive than the Sun.
Since nothing can stop them from collapsing, they immediately form supermassive stars.
Astronomers do not yet know if supermassive stars formed in the early universe. They hope that future observations will reveal more about the formation of the first stars and galaxies.
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