Formation of HD molecules in merging dark matter haloes

HD molecules can be an important cooling agent of the primordial gas behind the shock waves originated through merging of the dark matter haloes at epochs when the first luminous objects formed. We study the necessary conditions for the HD cooling to switch on in the low-temperature range   T < 200 K  . We show that these conditions are fulfilled in merging haloes with total (dark matter and baryon) mass in excess of   M _cr∼ 10⁷(1 + z )/20]⁻² M_⊙  . Haloes with masses   M > M _cr  may be the sites of low-mass star formation.