Finding The First Cosmic Explosions

Daniel Whalen Carnegie Mellon University

Chris Fryer, Lucy FreyLANL

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~ 200 pc

CosmologicalHalo z ~ 20

Properties of the First Stars

• form in isolation (one per halo)

• very massive (25 - 500 solar masses) due to inefficient H2 cooling

• Tsurface ~ 100,000 K

• extremely luminous sources of ionizing and LW photons (> 1050 photons s-1)

• 2 - 3 Myr lifetimes

Transformation of the HaloWhalen, Abel & Norman 2004, ApJ, 610, 14

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Primordial Ionization Front InstabilitiesWhalen & Norman 2008, ApJ, 675, 644

Final Fates of the First Stars Heger & Woosley 2002, ApJ 567, 532

Post Processing Includes Detailed LANL Opacities

but the atomic levels areassumed to be in equilibrium,a clear approximation

PISN Shock Breakout

• X-rays (> 100 eV)

• transient (a few hours in the local frame)

Spectra atBreakout

The spectra evolverapidly as the frontcools

Long-TermLight-CurveEvolution

even the lowestenergy PISN at z ~ 10 produces a large signal inthe JWST NIR camera over the first 50 days

Late Time Spectra

spectral features after breakout may enable usto distinguish betweenPISN and CC SNe

larger parameter studywith well-resolved photospheres is now inprogress

Chemical Mixing Prior to Breakout

Joggerst & Whalen 2010, ApJ in prep

PISNCore Collapse SN

Joggerst, Whalen, et al 2010, ApJ, 709, 11

Roadmap Ahead

• current models are grey FLD; next step is multigroup FLD and then multigroup IMC

• advance from 1D RTP AMR calculations to 2D cartesian AMR grids

• incorporate mixing from 2D models to simulate core-collapse SNe (15 - 40 solar mass stars, hypernovae)

• implement non-equilibrium opacities

• investigate progenitor environments on LC and spectra (LBV brightening?)

• explore asymmetric explosion mechanisms

• evolve toward 2D AMR IMC rad hydro with thousands of frequency bins -- eliminate post processing

Conclusions

• PISN will be visible to JWST out to z ~ 15; strong lensing may enable their detection out to z ~ 20 (Holz, Whalen & Fryer 2010 ApJ in prep)

• however, the redshifted initial x-ray transient will likely fall outside of the trigger wavelength of SWIFT and its envisioned successors

• as a consequence, first detection of PISN by JWST would be serendipitous

• dedicated ground-based campaigns with 30-meter class telescopes are the most probable avenue to finding the first SN explosions

• discrimination between Pop III PISN and Pop III CC SNe will be challenging but offers the first direct constraints on the Pop III IMF

• complementary detection of Pop III PISN remnants by the SZ effect may be possible (Whalen, Bhattacharya & Holz 2010, ApJ in prep)