Abstract
We discuss the behavior of density fluctuations in an expanding universe and show that these should lead to the early formation of pregalactic hydrogen-helium stars of several hundred to several thousand solar masses. These stars flood the universe with radiation having a color temperature ≳105 K; this terminates star formation but permits galaxy formation to continue. About 10−2 of the mass of the galaxies is converted into heavy elements by pregalactic nucleosynthesis, with an error factor of a few.
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Hartquist, T.W., Cameron, A.G.W. Pregalactic nucleosynthesis. Astrophys Space Sci 48, 145–158 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00643046
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00643046