The star-formation history of the Universe from the stellar populations of nearby galaxies

The determination of the star-formation history of the Universe is a key goal of modern cosmology, as it is crucial to our understanding of how galactic structures form and evolve. Observations of young stars in distant galaxies at different times in the past have indicated that the stellar birthrate peaked some eight billion years ago before declining by a factor of around ten to its present value. Here we report an analysis of the 'fossil record' of the current stellar populations of 96,545 nearby galaxies, from which we obtained a complete star-formation history. Our results broadly support those derived from high-redshift galaxies. We find, however, that the peak of star formation was more recent--around five billion years ago. We also show that the bigger the stellar mass of the galaxy, the earlier the stars were formed, which indicates that high- and low-mass galaxies have very different histories.     

A stellar relic from the early Milky Way

The chemical composition of the most metal-deficient stars largely reflects the composition of the gas from which they formed. These old stars provide crucial clues to the star formation history and the synthesis of chemical elements in the early Universe. They are the local relics of epochs otherwise observable only at very high redshifts; if totally metal-free ('population III') stars could be found, this would allow the direct study of the pristine gas from the Big Bang. Earlier searches for such stars found none with an iron abundance less than 1/10,000 that of the Sun, leading to the suggestion that low-mass stars could form from clouds above a critical iron abundance. Here we report the discovery of a low-mass star with an iron abundance as low as 1/200,000 of the solar value. This discovery suggests that population III stars could still exist--that is, that the first generation of stars also contained long-lived low-mass objects. The previous failure to find them may be an observational selection effect.     

Gamma-ray bursts: huge explosion in the early Universe

Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are bright flashes of high-energy photons that can last for tens of minutes; they are generally associated with galaxies that have a high rate of star formation and probably arise from the collapsing cores of massive stars, which produce highly relativistic jets (collapsar model). Here we describe gamma- and X-ray observations of the most distant GRB ever observed (GRB 050904): its redshift (z) of 6.29 means that this explosion happened 12.8 billion years ago, corresponding to a time when the Universe was just 890 million years old, close to the reionization era. This means that not only did stars form in this short period of time after the Big Bang, but also that enough time had elapsed for them to evolve and collapse into black holes.     

Black hole growth in the early Universe is self-regulated and largely hidden from view

The formation of the first massive objects in the infant Universe remains impossible to observe directly and yet it sets the stage for the subsequent evolution of galaxies. Although some black holes with masses more than 10(9) times that of the Sun have been detected in luminous quasars less than one billion years after the Big Bang, these individual extreme objects have limited utility in constraining the channels of formation of the earliest black holes; this is because the initial conditions of black hole seed properties are quickly erased during the growth process. Here we report a measurement of the amount of black hole growth in galaxies at redshift z = 6-8 (0.95-0.7 billion years after the Big Bang), based on optimally stacked, archival X-ray observations. Our results imply that black holes grow in tandem with their host galaxies throughout cosmic history, starting from the earliest times. We find that most copiously accreting black holes at these epochs are buried in significant amounts of gas and dust that absorb most radiation except for the highest-energy X-rays. This suggests that black holes grew significantly more during these early bursts than was previously thought, but because of the obscuration of their ultraviolet emission they did not contribute to the re-ionization of the Universe.     

Heavy element synthesis in the oldest stars and the early Universe

The first stars in the Universe were probably quite different from those born today. Composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium (plus a tiny trace of lithium), they lacked the heavier elements that determine the formation and evolution of younger stars. Although we cannot observe the very first stars--they died long ago in supernovae explosions--they created heavy elements that were incorporated into the next generation. Here we describe how observations of heavy elements in the oldest surviving stars in our Galaxy's halo help us understand the nature of the first stars--those responsible for the chemical enrichment of our Galaxy and Universe.     

Earth-mass dark-matter haloes as the first structures in the early Universe

The Universe was nearly smooth and homogeneous before a redshift of z = 100, about 20 million years after the Big Bang. After this epoch, the tiny fluctuations imprinted upon the matter distribution during the initial expansion began to collapse because of gravity. The properties of these fluctuations depend on the unknown nature of dark matter, the determination of which is one of the biggest challenges in present-day science. Here we report supercomputer simulations of the concordance cosmological model, which assumes neutralino dark matter (at present the preferred candidate), and find that the first objects to form are numerous Earth-mass dark-matter haloes about as large as the Solar System. They are stable against gravitational disruption, even within the central regions of the Milky Way. We expect over 10(15) to survive within the Galactic halo, with one passing through the Solar System every few thousand years. The nearest structures should be among the brightest sources of gamma-rays (from particle-particle annihilation).     

宇宙中的守恒量

茫茫宇宙中,有无数颗星星,有众多的星系。人们通过实验,观察到各种守恒量。那么,这些守恒量本身有怎样的性质呢。本文提出了一个观点：即宇宙中在一切过程中都守恒的量等于零。     

The state of the Universe

The past 20 years have seen dramatic advances in cosmology, mostly driven by observations from new telescopes and detectors. These instruments have allowed astronomers to map out the large-scale structure of the Universe and probe the very early stages of its evolution. We seem to have established the basic parameters describing the behaviour of our expanding Universe, thereby putting cosmology on a firm empirical footing. But the emerging 'standard' model leaves many details of galaxy formation still to be worked out, and new ideas are emerging that challenge the theoretical framework on which the structure of the Big Bang is based. There is still a great deal left to explore in cosmology.     

从物理学角度探讨宇宙平衡结构

宇宙中存在各类天体,它们都在一定条件下处于平衡状态,才使得宇宙具有一定的结构。星体主要是受引力,电力,热压力,简并压力等４种因素的支配平衡。     

The deeper the better-Scientists explore the Universe from inside of a mountain

The nuclear history of the Universe started shortly after the Big Bang.Through nuclear reactions,the ashes from the primordial explosion were transformed to hyd...     

The large-scale structure of the Universe

Research over the past 25 years has led to the view that the rich tapestry of present-day cosmic structure arose during the first instants of creation, where weak ripples were imposed on the otherwise uniform and rapidly expanding primordial soup. Over 14 billion years of evolution, these ripples have been amplified to enormous proportions by gravitational forces, producing ever-growing concentrations of dark matter in which ordinary gases cool, condense and fragment to make galaxies. This process can be faithfully mimicked in large computer simulations, and tested by observations that probe the history of the Universe starting from just 400,000 years after the Big Bang.     

宇宙的产生与构成

三维空间是从零空间中诞生的,物质和空间是由“光”转变来的,时钟是空间的产物。宇宙中有三种物理机制。     

宇宙起源及宇宙命运

引入宇宙早期核子概念,认为宇宙不是起源于时间为0、空间为0的点大爆炸,而是起源于t=10-62s,T=1051K,r=10-52cm“超微黑洞”的大爆炸.爆炸后宇宙是一个光子热平衡态和引力束缚态共存的系统,光子热平衡态占优势,迫使宇宙膨胀.tc=10-35s,宇宙对应的温标为1014GeV,并在tc=10-35~10-32s间发生暴胀、相变.暴胀、相变中形成的多成分粒子宇宙,是现时粒子的超对称性伴子,有较大的质标.“中性微子”质量m-U0e,B=230 GeV,它是暗物质,当暗物质使宇宙总质量多得过了头,宇宙即由膨胀转入收缩.     

宇宙临界减速因子

本文证明了如果中微子具有质量,那么膨胀宇宙的临界减速因子q_c就不是通常所说的1/2而是等于1。     

试论王锡阐宇宙模型的特征

在王锡阐(1628—1682年)有关天体运行的3篇文献《历说.五》、《日月左右旋问答》和《五星行度解》的基础上,分析了王锡阐改上三星本天之行为左旋的原因,揭示了《晓庵新法》中以地心为心的五星运动模型和《五星行度解》中的类第谷体系之间的关系,探讨了王锡阐对第谷模型进行修正的原因。     

通过贫金属星研究宇宙的增丰历史

贫金属星对于我们了解元素起源和宇宙的化学演化具有关键意义。本文将描述这些稀有天体的发现历史,分析它们的光谱确定其表面化学丰度的方法,以及如何利用它们的丰度模式来阐释其起源与演化。     

宇宙热寂说研究进展

对宇宙热寂说的缘起进行了简单回顾，评述了宇宙是否热寂的几种主要观点及其当前研究进展