Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2010-09-14
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
4 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of Deciphering the Ancient Universe with Gamma-Ray Bursts, Kyoto, Japan, April 19 - 23, 2010
Scientific paper
Massive Population III stars from 140 - 260 solar masses ended their lives as pair-instability supernovae (PISNe), the most energetic thermonuclear explosions in the universe. Detection of these explosions could directly constrain the primordial IMF for the first time, which is key to the formation of the first galaxies, early cosmological reionization, and the chemical enrichment of the primeval IGM. We present radiation hydrodynamical calculations of Pop III PISN light curves and spectra performed with the RAGE code. We find that the initial radiation pulse due to shock breakout from the surface of the star, although attenuated by the Lyman-alpha forest, will still be visible by JWST at z ~ 10 - 15, and possibly out to z ~ 20 with strong gravitational lensing. We have also studied metal mixing at early stages of the explosion prior to breakout from the surface of the star with the CASTRO AMR code and find vigorous mixing in primordial core-collapse explosions but very little in PISNe. This implies that the key to determining progenitor masses of the first cosmic explosions is early spectroscopy just after shock breakout, and that multidimensional mixing is crucial to accurate low-mass Pop III SNe light curves and spectra.
Fryer Chris
Whalen Daniel J.
No associations
LandOfFree
The Observational Signatures of Primordial Pair-Instability Supernovae does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The Observational Signatures of Primordial Pair-Instability Supernovae, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Observational Signatures of Primordial Pair-Instability Supernovae will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-394579