Tuesday

Molecular Hydrogen (H2) is the most efficient cooling mechanism of the high-z interstellar medium, still chemically pristine until stars start to pollute it with metals and dust.
In recent times, numerical simulations have been trying to capture the impact of H2 on the formation of the first generation of stars and black holes by modelling its formation with non-equilibrium chemistry and its photodissociation by to the so-called Lyman-Werner (LW) photons in the range 11-13.6 eV.
In my talk I will describe the method I have been developing to accurately model the H2 dissociation rate given by the stellar radiation. In particular, by post-processing the outputs of the First Billion Years (FiBY) suite of simulations I can estimate the LW background that develops during the formation of the first cosmological structures. Its evolution with redshift can be used as an input to semi-analytical models, while its spatial inhomogeneities have important consequences on the stellar and black hole seeds formation in different environments.