How Did the First Stars and Galaxies Form?

PREFACE xi

Chapter 1: Prologue: The Big Picture 1

1.1 In the Beginning 1

1.2 Observing the Story of Genesis 2

1.3 Practical Benefits from the Big Picture 5

Chapter 2: Standard Cosmological Model 8

2.1 Cosmic Perspective 8

2.2 Past and Future of Our Universe 11

2.3 Gravitational Instability 15

2.4 Geometry of Space 16

2.5 Cosmic Archaeology 18

2.6 Milestones in Cosmic Evolution 23

2.7 Most Matter Is Dark 30

Chapter 3: The First Gas Clouds 35

3.1 Growing the Seed Fluctuations 36

3.2 The Smallest Gas Condensations 43

3.3 Spherical Collapse and Halo Properties 45

3.4 Abundance of Dark Matter Halos 50

3.5 Cooling and Chemistry 59

3.6 Sheets, Filaments, and Only Then, Galaxies 61

Chapter 4: The First Stars and Black Holes 64

4.1 Metal-Free Stars 65

4.2 Properties of the First Stars 74

4.3 The First Black Holes and Quasars 78

4.4 Gamma-Ray Bursts: The Brightest Explosions 89

Chapter 5: The Reionization of Cosmic Hydrogen by the First Galaxies 95

5.1 Ionization Scars by the First Stars 95

5.2 Propagation of Ionization Fronts 98

5.3 Swiss Cheese Topology 111

Chapter 6: Observing the First Galaxies 116

6.1 Theories and Observations 116

6.2 Completing Our Photo Album of the Universe 117

6.3 Cosmic Time Machine 119

6.4 The Hubble Deep Field and Its Follow-Ups 125

6.5 Observing the First Gamma-Ray Bursts 129

6.6 Future Telescopes 133

Chapter 7: Imaging the Diffuse Fog of Cosmic Hydrogen 136

7.1 Hydrogen 136

7.2 The Lyman-? Line 137

7.3 The 21-cm Line 140

7.4 Observing Most of the Observable Volume 156

Chapter 8: Epilogue: From Our Galaxy's Past to Its Future 159

8.1 End of Extragalactic Astronomy 159

8.2 Milky Way + Andromeda = Milkomeda 164

APPENDIX: USEFUL NUMBERS 171

NOTES 173

RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING 181

GLOSSARY 183

INDEX 189