Assessing the Observability of Hypernovae and Pair-Instability Supernovae in the Early Universe

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential for observing supernovae from the universe's first stars, suggesting that many such explosions could be detectable despite their extreme distance, offering insights into early cosmic history.

Contribution

It reviews supernova modeling and recent research to assess the observability of Population III supernovae with upcoming telescopes.

Findings

Many Population III supernovae will be observable up to 99% of the universe's age.

Observations can trace primordial star formation rates and protogalaxy locations.

Population III supernovae are among the most spectacular expected discoveries.

Abstract

The era of the universe's first (Population III) stars is essentially unconstrained by observation. Ultra-luminous and massive stars from this time altered the chemistry of the cosmos, provided the radiative scaffolding to support the formation of the first protogalaxies, and facilitated the creation and growth of now-supermassive black holes. Unfortunately, because these stars lie literally at the edge of the observable universe, they will remain beyond the reach of even the next generation of telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the Thirty-Meter Telescope. In this paper, we provide a primer to supernovae modeling and the first stars to make our discussion accessible to those new to or outside our field. We review recent work of the Los Alamos Supernova Light Curve Project and Brigham Young University to explore the possibility of probing this era through observations of the spectacular deaths of the first stars. We find that many such brilliant supernova explosions will be observable as far back as $\sim 99$% of the universe's current age, tracing primordial star formation rates and the locations of their protogalaxies on the sky. The observation of Population III supernovae will be among the most spectacular discoveries in observational astronomy in the coming decade.