Elevated UV luminosity density at Cosmic Dawn explained by non-evolving, weakly mass-dependent star formation efficiency

ABSTRACT Recent observations with JWST have uncovered unexpectedly high cosmic star formation activity in the early Universe, mere hundreds of millions of years after the big bang. These observations are often understood to reflect an evolutionary shift in star formation efficiency (SFE) caused by changing galactic conditions during these early epochs. We present FIREbox$^{\it HR}$, a high-resolution, cosmological hydrodynamical simulation from the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project, which offers insights into the SFE of galaxies during the first billion years of cosmic time. FIREbox$^{\it HR}$ re-simulates the cosmic volume ($L=22.1$ cMpc) of the original FIREbox run with eight times higher mass resolution ($m_{\rm b}\sim {}7800\, M_\odot$), but with identical physics, down to $z\sim {}6$. FIREbox$^{\it HR}$ predicts ultraviolet (UV) luminosity functions in good agreement with available observational data. The simulation also successfully reproduces the observed cosmic UV luminosity density at $z\sim {}6{\!-\!}14$, demonstrating that relatively high star formation activity in the early Universe is a natural outcome of the baryonic processes encoded in the FIRE-2 model. According to FIREbox$^{\it HR}$, the SFE–halo mass relation for intermediate mass haloes ($M_{\rm halo}\sim {}10^9{\!-\!}10^{11}\, {\rm M}_\odot$) does not significantly evolve with redshift and is only weakly mass-dependent. These properties of the SFE–halo mass relation lead to a larger contribution from lower mass haloes at higher z, driving the gradual evolution of the observed cosmic UV luminosity density. A theoretical model based on the SFE–halo mass relation inferred from FIREbox$^{\it HR}$ allows us to explore implications for galaxy evolution. Future observations of UV faint galaxies at $z\gt 12$ will provide an opportunity to further test these predictions and deepen our understanding of star formation during Cosmic Dawn.

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Publication Details

Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Published
2024-11-26
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae2633
Citations
25
Primary Topic
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
8.29

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article

Elevated UV luminosity density at Cosmic Dawn explained by non-evolving, weakly mass-dependent star formation efficiency

Eliot Quataert, James S. Bullock, Alexandres Lazar, Christopher C. Hayward et al.
25 citations
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
8.29
article

Elevated UV luminosity density at Cosmic Dawn explained by non-evolving, weakly mass-dependent star formation efficiency

Eliot Quataert, James S. Bullock, Alexandres Lazar, Christopher C. Hayward, Michael Boylan-Kolchin, Lichen Liang, Jorge Moreno, Robert Feldmann, Claude‐André Faucher‐Giguère, Pascal A. Oesch, Onur Çatmabacak, Xuejian Shen, Dušan Kereš, Guochao Sun
article en
25 citations

Abstract

ABSTRACT Recent observations with JWST have uncovered unexpectedly high cosmic star formation activity in the early Universe, mere hundreds of millions of years after the big bang. These observations are often understood to reflect an evolutionary shift in star formation efficiency (SFE) caused by changing galactic conditions during these early epochs. We present FIREbox$^{\it HR}$, a high-resolution, cosmological hydrodynamical simulation from the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project, which offers insights into the SFE of galaxies during the first billion years of cosmic time. FIREbox$^{\it HR}$ re-simulates the cosmic volume ($L=22.1$ cMpc) of the original FIREbox run with eight times higher mass resolution ($m_{\rm b}\sim {}7800\, M_\odot$), but with identical physics, down to $z\sim {}6$. FIREbox$^{\it HR}$ predicts ultraviolet (UV) luminosity functions in good agreement with available observational data. The simulation also successfully reproduces the observed cosmic UV luminosity density at $z\sim {}6{\!-\!}14$, demonstrating that relatively high star formation activity in the early Universe is a natural outcome of the baryonic processes encoded in the FIRE-2 model. According to FIREbox$^{\it HR}$, the SFE–halo mass relation for intermediate mass haloes ($M_{\rm halo}\sim {}10^9{\!-\!}10^{11}\, {\rm M}_\odot$) does not significantly evolve with redshift and is only weakly mass-dependent. These properties of the SFE–halo mass relation lead to a larger contribution from lower mass haloes at higher z, driving the gradual evolution of the observed cosmic UV luminosity density. A theoretical model based on the SFE–halo mass relation inferred from FIREbox$^{\it HR}$ allows us to explore implications for galaxy evolution. Future observations of UV faint galaxies at $z\gt 12$ will provide an opportunity to further test these predictions and deepen our understanding of star formation during Cosmic Dawn.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietyVol. 536(1)
Northwestern University (US), University of Geneva (CH), University of Copenhagen (DK), Pomona College (US), University of Toronto (CA), Carnegie Institution for Science (US), Princeton University (US), University of Zurich (CH), University of California, Irvine (US), University of California San Diego (US), Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CA), Carnegie Observatories (US), Flatiron Health (United States) (US), Flatiron Institute (US), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), The University of Texas at Austin (US)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Research Corporation for Science Advancement, Spine Education and Research Institute, Space Telescope Science Institute, National Research Foundation, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Danmarks Grundforskningsfond, Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe AISBL, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Universität Zürich, Centro Svizzero di Calcolo Scientifico, National Supercomputing Centre Singapore, Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, Northwestern University, Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
8.29
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