The Source Density and Observability of Pair-Instability Supernovae from the First Stars

Details The Source Density and Observability of Pair-Instability Supernovae from the First Stars The Source Density and Observability of Pair-Instability Supernovae from the First Stars

2011-12-21

arxiv.org/abs/1112.5207v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Theoretical models predict the supernova explosions ending the lives of some of the first stars to have been extremely energetic pair-instability supernovae (PISNe). With energies approaching 10^53 ergs, these supernovae are expected to be within the detection limits of the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), allowing observational constraints to be placed on the properties of the first stars. We estimate the source density of PISNe using a semi-analytic halo mass function based approach, accounting for the effects of feedback from star formation on the PISN rate using cosmological simulations. We estimate an upper limit of ~2 PISNe per JWST field of view at any given time. Feedback can reduce this rate significantly, e.g., lowering it to approximately one PISN visible per 2.5 JWST fields of view. We also find that the main obstacle to observing PISNe from the first stars is their scarcity, not their faintness; exposures longer than a few times 10^4 s will do little to increase the number of PISNe found. Given this we suggest a mosaic style search strategy for detecting PISNe from the first stars as even rather high redshift PISNe are unlikely to be missed by moderate exposures, and a large number of pointings will be required to ensure a detection. For an observing program totalling 10^6 s, the probability of a detection is maximized by dividing the campaign into ~150 individual fields with ~5000 s exposure in each.

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