Related papers: Molecules at High Redshifts
It is now well known that a primordial chemistry, involving light elements produced during the nucleosynthesis period, might develop during the hydrogen post-recombination era. In particular, molecular ions and primordial molecules such as…
The study of primordial chemistry of molecules adresses a number of interesting questions pertaining to the thermal balance of collapsing molecular protoclouds. In numerous astrophysical cases molecular cooling and heating influence…
We investigate the formation of molecular hydrogen (H_2) in a primordial H+He gas cloud irradiated by a power-law UV flux. We find that at high densities (>1 cm^{-3}) and low temperatures (<10^4 K), the background radiation enhances the…
The thermochemistry of H2 and HD in non-collapsed, non-reionized primordial gas up to the end of the dark age is investigated with recent radiation-matter and chemical reaction rates taking into account the efficient coolant HD, and the…
We study the formation of molecular hydrogen, after the epoch of re-ionization, in the context of canonical galaxy formation theory due to hierarchical clustering. There is an initial epoch of $H_2$ production in the gas phase through the…
The first generation of protogalaxies likely formed out of primordial gas via H2-cooling in cosmological minihalos with virial temperatures of a few 1000K. However, their abundance is likely to have been severely limited by feedback…
Molecular hydrogen (H$_2$) and hydrogen deuteride (HD) are key coolants in primordial gas and regulate the formation of the first stars and proto-galaxies. Recent results from the James Webb Space Telescope provide striking insights into…
We investigate the ability of primordial gas clouds to retain molecular hydrogen (H_2) during the initial phase of the reionization epoch. We find that before the Stromgren spheres of the individual ionizing sources overlap, the UV…
We review the relevance of H2 molecules for structure formation in cosmology. Molecules are important at high redshifts, when the first collapsed structures appear with typical temperatures of a few hundred Kelvin. In these chemically…
An attempt is made here to revisit structure formation in a proto-stellar cloud during the early phase of evolution. Molecular cloud subjected to a set of various initial conditions in terms of initial temperature and amplitude of azimuthal…
Many questions in physical cosmology regarding the thermal history of the intergalactic medium, chemical enrichment, reionization, etc. are thought to be intimately related to the nature and evolution of pregalactic structure. In particular…
The possibility to detect cosmological signals from the post-recombination Universe is one of the main aims of modern cosmology. In a previous paper we emphasized the role that elastic resonant scattering through LiH molecules can have in…
Molecular clouds (MCs) are highly structured and ``turbulent''. Colliding gas streams of atomic hydrogen have been suggested as a possible source of MCs, imprinting the filamentary structure as a consequence of dynamical and thermal…
We study formation of molecules in primordial prestellar clumps and evaluate the line luminosities to assess detectability by next-generation facilities. If the initial H_2 fraction is sufficiently high, HD becomes an important coolant in…
Context. To understand the formation of the first stars, a detailed description of the thermal and chemical processes in collapsing gas clouds is essential. Molecular cooling, particularly via H2, plays a significant role in triggering…
Many questions in physical cosmology regarding the thermal history of the intergalactic medium, chemical enrichment, reionization, etc. are thought to be intimately related to the nature and evolution of pregalactic structure. In particular…
HD molecules can be an important cooling agent of the primordial gas behind the shock waves originated through mergings of the dark matter haloes at epochs when first luminous objects were to form. We study the necessary conditions for the…
We study the formation and destruction of the first molecules at the epochs of the Dark Ages and Cosmic Dawn to evaluate the luminosity of the protogalaxy clumps (halos) in the molecular lines. The cosmological recombination is described…
We find that at redshifts z > 10, HD line cooling allows strongly-shocked primordial gas to cool to the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). This temperature is the minimum value attainable via radiative cooling. Provided…
At early times the Universe was filled up with an extremely dense and hot gas. Due to the expansion it cooled below the binding energies of atoms which led to the formation of the first nuclei. In the physical environment of the…