Astraeus X: Indications of a top-heavy initial mass function in highly star-forming galaxies from JWST observations at z>10

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Hauptverfasser: Hutter, Anne, Cueto, Elie R, Dayal, Pratika, Gottlöber, Stefan, Trebitsch, Maxime, Yepes, Gustavo
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Hutter, Anne
Cueto, Elie R
Dayal, Pratika
Gottlöber, Stefan
Trebitsch, Maxime
Yepes, Gustavo
author_facet Hutter, Anne
Cueto, Elie R
Dayal, Pratika
Gottlöber, Stefan
Trebitsch, Maxime
Yepes, Gustavo
contents The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has uncovered an abundance of $z>10$ galaxies bright in the ultraviolet (UV) that has challenged traditional theoretical models at high redshifts. Recently, various new models have emerged to address this discrepancy by refining their description of star formation. Here we investigate whether modifications to the stellar initial mass function (IMF) alone can reproduce the $z>10$ UV luminosity functions (UV LFs) when the star formation rate is used as a proxy for the fraction of massive stars. We incorporate an Evolving IMF into the {\sc astraeus} galaxy evolution and reionisation simulation framework, which becomes increasingly top-heavy as the gas density in a galaxy rises above a given threshold. Our implementation accounts for the IMF's effects on supernova (SN) feedback, metal enrichment, and the UV and ionising emissivities. For this Evolving IMF model, we find that (i) the maximum UV luminosity enhancement is twice as large in massive galaxies ($ΔM_\mathrm{UV}\simeq2.6$) than those where star formation is strongly limited by SN feedback ($ΔM_\mathrm{UV}\simeq1.3$); (ii) it successfully reproduces the observed UV LFs at $z=5-15$; (iii) galaxies with top-heavy IMFs exhibit the highest star formation rates, driven by their location in local density peaks, which facilitates higher gas accretion rates; (iv) the $1σ$ variances in the UV luminosity are only slightly higher compared to when assuming a Salpeter IMF, but the $2σ$ variances are significantly increased by a factor of $1.4-2$ boosting the abundance of UV-bright galaxies at $z>10$; (v) reionisation begins earlier with more extended large ionised regions and fewer smaller ones during its initial stages, though these differences diminish at lower redshifts, leading to a similar end of reionisation at $z\simeq5.6$.}
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_00730
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Astraeus X: Indications of a top-heavy initial mass function in highly star-forming galaxies from JWST observations at z>10
Hutter, Anne
Cueto, Elie R
Dayal, Pratika
Gottlöber, Stefan
Trebitsch, Maxime
Yepes, Gustavo
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has uncovered an abundance of $z>10$ galaxies bright in the ultraviolet (UV) that has challenged traditional theoretical models at high redshifts. Recently, various new models have emerged to address this discrepancy by refining their description of star formation. Here we investigate whether modifications to the stellar initial mass function (IMF) alone can reproduce the $z>10$ UV luminosity functions (UV LFs) when the star formation rate is used as a proxy for the fraction of massive stars. We incorporate an Evolving IMF into the {\sc astraeus} galaxy evolution and reionisation simulation framework, which becomes increasingly top-heavy as the gas density in a galaxy rises above a given threshold. Our implementation accounts for the IMF's effects on supernova (SN) feedback, metal enrichment, and the UV and ionising emissivities. For this Evolving IMF model, we find that (i) the maximum UV luminosity enhancement is twice as large in massive galaxies ($ΔM_\mathrm{UV}\simeq2.6$) than those where star formation is strongly limited by SN feedback ($ΔM_\mathrm{UV}\simeq1.3$); (ii) it successfully reproduces the observed UV LFs at $z=5-15$; (iii) galaxies with top-heavy IMFs exhibit the highest star formation rates, driven by their location in local density peaks, which facilitates higher gas accretion rates; (iv) the $1σ$ variances in the UV luminosity are only slightly higher compared to when assuming a Salpeter IMF, but the $2σ$ variances are significantly increased by a factor of $1.4-2$ boosting the abundance of UV-bright galaxies at $z>10$; (v) reionisation begins earlier with more extended large ionised regions and fewer smaller ones during its initial stages, though these differences diminish at lower redshifts, leading to a similar end of reionisation at $z\simeq5.6$.}
title Astraeus X: Indications of a top-heavy initial mass function in highly star-forming galaxies from JWST observations at z>10
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.00730