How did the early stars meet their demise?
Death of Early Stars
The first stars of the universe were significant not only in life, but also in death. The death of the massive stars early in the universe created the heavy elements that were later used to create solar systems such as our own. The death and collapse of the supermassive stars is one possible explanation for the supermassive black holes found at the centers of nearly all galaxies and the source of energy for quasars.
All of the elements in the universe from hydrogen to iron are produced through thermonuclear fusion, a process which occurs in the cores of massive stars. It is believed that the early universe was comprised almost entirely of hydrogen gas - as well as a small amount of helium - which condensed and eventually formed the first stars. If these stars were as massive as they were believed to have been, they would have been able to create elements such as carbon, oxygen, silicon, and iron and through their deaths in the form of supernovae, propagate these elements throughout the universe.
One of modern astronomy’s most interesting questions is why an incredibly massive black hole seems to be found at the center of every galaxy. While there are several theories as to their origin, there is one in particular that pertains to the early universe. Since the early stars were thought to have formed in protogalaxies, before the formation of the galaxies known to exist today, it is possible that after the relatively short life span of these large stars (only a few million years), they exploded as supernovae, with the larger stars collapsing into black holes. Gravitational interactions between the black holes would have caused the protogalaxies to merge, and the kinetic energy from these interactions would have triggered further star formation (as collisions between galaxies do today). The black holes would have merged into an even larger black hole at the center of the forming galaxy. Unfortunately, there is little observational evidence of the early universe - most of these theories were created with the use of computer models. Regardless, the deaths of early stars do provide an interesting explanation for an unusual galactic phenomenon.
Larson, Richard B. Volker Bromm. “The First Stars in the Universe”. Scientific American, December 2004.
An image of a Supernova, spewing energy and elements into the Universe.