Poster abstract

The first burst of star formation in the Universe is thought to give rise to massive stars, with current theory predicting masses in the range 20-150 M$_{\odot}$. This contrasts with present-day star formation, which tends to yield stars with masses less than 1 M$_{\odot}$, and so at some point in the evolution of the Universe there was a transition from primordial (Pop III) star formation to the mode of star formation that we see today (Pop II/I). The most widely accepted cause for this transition is metal enrichment of the interstellar medium by the previous generations of stars. This suggests that there may be a \'critical metallicity\' at which the mode of star formation changes.\\
We investigate the effects of the cooling due to dust grains on the
collapse of low metallicity star forming clouds and the Pop III/II
transition. Making use of 3D numerical models to follow the thermal
evolution of clouds with different metallicities, we study
self-consistently the evolution of the gas and dust temperatures
during the collapse, and determine the properties of the cloud at
the point at which it undergoes gravitational fragmentation. This
allows us to investigate the role that dust cooling may play in the
transition from a Pop. III IMF composed predominantly of high-mass
stars to the IMF we observe today.