Radiation Hydrodynamic Evolution of Primordial H ii Regions

Abstract

We simulate the ionization environment of z ~ 20 luminous objects formed within the framework of the current CDM (cold dark matter) cosmology and compute their UV escape fraction. These objects are likely single, very massive stars that are copious UV emitters. We present analytical estimates as well as one-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic calculations of the evolution of these first H II regions in the universe. The initially D-type ionization front (I-front) evolves to become R-type within ≲10 5 yr at a distance of ~1 pc. This ionization front then completely overruns the halo, accelerating an expanding shell of gas outward to velocities in excess of 30 km s -1 , about 10 times the escape velocity of the confining dark matter halo. We find that the evolution of the H II region depends only weakly on the assumed stellar ionizing luminosities. Consequently, most of the gas surrounding the first stars will leave the dark halo whether or not the stars produce supernovae. If they form the first massive seed black holes, these are unlikely to accrete within a Hubble time after they formed until they are incorporated into larger dark matter halos that contain more gas. Because these I-fronts exit the halo on timescales much shorter than the stars' main-sequence lifetimes, their host halos have UV escape fractions of ≳0.95, fixing an important parameter for theoretical studies of cosmological hydrogen reionization.