Formation of massive Population III galaxies through photoionization feedback: A possible explanation for CR 7

Abstract

We explore the formation of massive high-redshift Population III (Pop III) galaxies through photoionization feedback. We consider dark matter haloes formed from progenitors that have undergone no star formation as a result of early reionization and photoevaporation caused by a nearby galaxy. Once such a halo reaches ≈109Mo˙, corresponding to the Jeans mass of the photoheated intergalactic medium at z ≈ 7, pristine gas is able to collapse into the halo, potentially producing a massive Pop III starburst. We suggest that this scenario may explain the recent observation of strong He II 1640 Å line emission in CR 7, which is consistent with ~107Mo˙ of young Pop III stars. Such a large mass of Pop III stars is unlikely without the photoionization feedback scenario, because star formation is expected to inject metals into haloes above the atomic cooling threshold (~108Mo˙ at z ≈ 7). We use merger trees to analytically estimate the abundance of observable Pop III galaxies formed through this channel, and find a number density of ≈10-7 Mpc-3 at z = 6.6 (the redshift of CR 7). This is approximately a factor of 10 lower than the density of Ly a emitters as bright as CR 7.