Tracing the first stars with fluctuations of the cosmic infrared background

A. Kashlinsky (), R. G. Arendt, J. Mather and S. H. Moseley
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A. Kashlinsky: Observational Cosmology Laboratory
R. G. Arendt: Observational Cosmology Laboratory
J. Mather: Observational Cosmology Laboratory
S. H. Moseley: Observational Cosmology Laboratory

Nature, 2005, vol. 438, issue 7064, 45-50

Abstract: Abstract The deepest space- and ground-based observations find metal-enriched galaxies at cosmic times when the Universe was less than 1 Gyr old. These stellar populations had to be preceded by the metal-free first stars, known as ‘population III’. Recent cosmic microwave background polarization measurements indicate that stars started forming early—when the Universe was ≤200 Myr old. It is now thought that population III stars were significantly more massive than the present metal-rich stellar populations. Although such sources will not be individually detectable by existing or planned telescopes, they would have produced significant cosmic infrared background radiation in the near-infrared, whose fluctuations reflect the conditions in the primordial density field. Here we report a measurement of diffuse flux fluctuations after removing foreground stars and galaxies. The anisotropies exceed the instrument noise and the more local foregrounds; they can be attributed to emission from population III stars, at an era dominated by these objects.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1038/nature04143

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