AEOS: Star-by-star Cosmological Simulations of Early Chemical Enrichment and Galaxy Formation

Abstract

The A eos project introduces a series of high-resolution cosmological simulations that model star-by-star chemical enrichment and galaxy formation in the early Universe, achieving 1 pc resolution. These simulations capture the complexities of galaxy evolution within the first ~300 Myr by modeling individual stars and their feedback processes. By incorporating chemical yields from individual stars, A eos generates galaxies with diverse stellar chemical abundances, linking them to hierarchical galaxy formation and early nucleosynthetic events. These simulations underscore the importance of chemical abundance patterns in ancient stars as vital probes of early nucleosynthesis, star formation histories, and galaxy formation. We examine the metallicity floors of various elements resulting from Population III enrichment, providing best-fit values for eight different metals (e.g., [O/H] = −4.0) to guide simulations without Population III models. Additionally, we identify galaxies that begin star formation with Population II after external enrichment and investigate the frequency of carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars at varying metallicities. The A eos simulations offer detailed insights into the relationship between star formation, feedback, and chemical enrichment. Future work will extend these simulations to later epochs to interpret the diverse stellar populations of the Milky Way and its satellites.

Keywords

• Galaxy chemical evolution
• Dwarf galaxies
• Chemical enrichment
• Hydrodynamics