The importance of initial conditions and metallicity for the fragmentation of protogalactic gas

The formation of the first stars out of metal-free gas appears to result in stars at least an order of magnitude more massive than in the present-day case. We here consider what controls the transition from a primordial to a modern initial mass function. We study the influence of low levels of metal enrichment and different initial conditions on the cooling and collapse of initially ionized gas in small protogalactic halos using three-dimensional, smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations. We argue that fragmentation at moderate density depends on the initial conditions for star formation more than on the metal abundances present.