Detecting Pair-instability Supernovae at z ≲ 5 with the James Webb Space Telescope

Abstract

Pair-instability supernovae (PISNe) are the ultimate cosmic lighthouses, capable of being observed at z  ≳ 25 and revealing the properties of primordial stars at cosmic dawn. But it is now understood that the spectra and light curves of these events evolved with redshift as the universe became polluted with heavy elements because chemically enriched stars in this mass range typically lose most of their hydrogen envelopes and explode as bare helium cores. The light curves of such transients can be considerably dimmer in the near-infrared today than those of primordial PISNe of equal energy and progenitor mass. Here, we calculate detection rates for PISNe whose progenitors lost their outer layers to either line-driven winds or rotation at z  ≲ 10, their detection limit in redshift for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We find that JWST may be able to detect only Population II (metal-poor) PISNe over the redshift range of z ≲ 4, but not their Population III (metal-free) counterparts.