H2 Cooling of Primordial Gas Triggered by UV Irradiation
Abstract
We investigate the formation of molecular hydrogen (H2) 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 (<104 K), the background radiation enhances the formation of H2 and results in molecular cooling dominating over photoionization heating. This process could accelerate the collapse and fragmentation of dense objects at high redshifts.
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