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| Paper: |
Echoes of the First Stars: Massive Star Evolution in Extremely Metal-Poor Environments with the Habitable Worlds Observatory |
| Monograph: |
10, HWO25 Proceedings Part I: Community Science Case Development Documents |
| Page: |
3 |
| Authors: |
Peter Senchyna; Calum Hawcroft; Miriam Garcia; Aida Wofford; Janice C. Lee; Chris Evans |
| DOI: |
10.26624/NWKC4234 |
| Abstract: |
A remarkable span of frontier astrophysics, from gravitational-wave archaeology to the origin of the elements to interpreting snapshots of the earliest galaxies, depends sensitively on our understanding of massive
star formation and evolution in near-pristine, relatively enriched gas. From the surprisingly massive black
holes detected by LIGO/Virgo to highly ionized nebulae with peculiar enrichment patterns observed in galaxies at Cosmic Dawn, evidence is mounting that our understanding of massive-star populations at very low
metallicity remains critically incomplete. The fundamental limitation is the hand nature has dealt us: only
a few star-forming galaxies within ≲ 1 Mpc can currently be resolved into individual stars, and none reach
the extreme metallicities and star-formation intensities that characterized the early Universe. With an ultraviolet integral-field spectrograph aboard the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), this barrier will finally be
broken. HWO will bring rare, actively star-forming, extremely metal-poor dwarf galaxies at ∼10–20 Mpc
such as I Zw 18 within reach of resolved UV–optical spectroscopy, providing our first direct, statistical view
of individual massive stars and the feedback they drive at >30 M⊙ and <10% Z⊙. This science is deeply
synergistic with many next-generation facilities, yet requires the unique combination of spatial resolution and
UV/optical sensitivity that only HWO can provide. The massive star science enabled by HWO within the
Local Volume represents a transformational advance in our ability to probe the earliest stellar populations —
those that seeded the Milky Way and other galaxies with the first heavy elements, and paved the way for life
in the transparent, reionized Universe we inhabit today. |
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