Astro2020 Science White Paper: Are Supernovae the Dust Producer in the Early Universe?

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether supernovae are a primary source of dust in the early universe, especially in high-redshift galaxies, using upcoming observational capabilities of JWST, LSST, and the US-ELT.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of supernovae as potential early universe dust producers with a focus on future observational prospects.

Findings

Supernovae could significantly contribute to early universe dust.

Upcoming telescopes will enable detailed studies of supernova dust formation.

Understanding supernova dust production impacts models of galaxy evolution.

Abstract

Whether supernovae are a significant source of dust has been a long-standing debate. The large quantities of dust observed in high-redshift galaxies raise a fundamental question as to the origin of dust in the Universe since stars cannot have evolved to the AGB dust-producing phase in high-redshift galaxies. In contrast, supernovae occur within several millions of years after the onset of star formation. This white paper focuses on dust formation in supernova ejecta with US-Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) perspective during the era of JWST and LSST.