Star cluster formation and survival in the first galaxies

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using radiation-hydrodynamic cosmological simulations, we present a detailed (0.1 pc resolution), physically motivated portrait of a typical-mass dwarf galaxy before the epoch of reionization, resolving the formation, and evolution of star clusters into individual 10 M⊙ star particles. In the rest-frame ultraviolet, the galaxy has an irregular morphology with no bulge or disc, dominated by light emitted from numerous, compact, and gravitationally-bound star clusters. This is especially interesting in light of recent James Webb Space Telescope observations that − aided by the magnifying power of gravitational lenses – have imaged, at parsec-scale resolution, individual young star clusters forming in similar galaxies at z> 6. Because of their low metallicities and high temperatures, star-forming gas clouds in this galaxy have densities ∼100 times higher than typical giant molecular clouds; hence, their expected star formation efficiencies (SFEs) are high enough (around 10 − 70 per cent) to produce a sizeable population of potential globular cluster progenitors, but typically smaller (a few 100 − 2 ×104M⊙, half-mass radii of up to 3 pc) and of lower metallicities (10−3.5– 10−2.5 Z⊙). The initial mass function of the star-forming clouds is log-normal, whereas the bound star cluster mass function is a power-law with a slope that depends mainly on SFE but also on the temporal proximity to a major starburst. We find slopes between −0.5 and −2.5 depending on the assumed sub-grid SFE. Star formation is self-regulated on galactic scales; however, the multimodal metallicity distribution of the star clusters and the fraction of stars locked into surviving bound star clusters depends on SFE.