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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 April 2007
We examine the role of primordial molecules in the Pop III to Pop II transition. We show that the critical metallicity strongly depends on H2/HD abundances and thermal history of gas. In a shock processed gas where H2 and HD are highly abundant the dependence of the critical metallicity on gas density is very steep at n ~ 100 cm-3 and T ≤ 300 K, and can become smaller than 10-6.