 Photoevaporation of a dark-matter minihalo

Photoionization can heat a shallow halo's gas well above its virial temperature. If the heated sound speed exceeds the escape-speed scale, the previous hydrostatic equilibrium is lost and a pressure-driven outflow removes gas. A crossing time gives a useful estimate, but photon supply, the gas profile, shielding and recombinations can delay the process. This particularly affects haloes whose virial temperatures are below the usual atomic cooling threshold and reduces their subsequent star formation.