Seeing the First Supernovae at the Edge of the Universe with JWST

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that upcoming space telescopes JWST and WFIRST can detect the supernovae of the first stars at very high redshifts, revealing the universe's earliest stellar populations.

Contribution

The study provides radiation hydrodynamical simulations predicting the detectability of Pop III supernovae by JWST and WFIRST at unprecedented distances.

Findings

JWST can detect Pop III supernovae up to z ~ 30.

WFIRST can detect Pop III supernovae up to z ~ 20.

First supernovae can be observed at the edge of the universe.

Abstract

The first stars ended the cosmic Dark Ages and created the first heavy elements necessary for the formation of planets and life. The properties of these stars remain uncertain, and it may be decades before individual Pop III stars are directly observed. Their masses, however, can be inferred from their supernova explosions, which may soon be found in both deep-field surveys by JWST and in all-sky surveys by WFIRST. We have performed radiation hydrodynamical simulations of the near infrared signals of Pop III pair-instability supernovae in realistic circumstellar environments with Lyman absorption by the neutral intergalactic medium. We find that JWST and WFIRST will detect these explosions out to z ~ 30 and 20, respectively, unveiling the first generation of stars in the universe.