Transcript Finding The First Cosmic Explosions Daniel Whalen Carnegie Mellon University Chris Fryer, Lucy Frey LANL QuickTime™ and a TIFF(Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this pi cture. QuickT.

Finding The First Cosmic Explosions
Daniel Whalen
Carnegie Mellon University
Chris Fryer, Lucy Frey
LANL
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~ 200 pc
Cosmological
Halo 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 Halo
Whalen, Abel & Norman 2004, ApJ, 610, 14
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Primordial Ionization Front Instabilities
Whalen & 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 are
assumed to be in equilibrium,
a clear approximation
PISN Shock Breakout
• X-rays (> 100 eV)
• transient (a few
hours in the local
frame)
Spectra at
Breakout
The spectra evolve
rapidly as the front
cools
Long-Term
Light-Curve
Evolution
even the lowest
energy PISN at
z ~ 10 produces
a large signal in
the JWST NIR
camera over the
first 50 days
Late Time Spectra
spectral features after
breakout may enable us
to distinguish between
PISN and CC SNe
larger parameter study
with well-resolved
photospheres is now in
progress
Chemical Mixing Prior to Breakout
Core Collapse SN
PISN
Joggerst, Whalen, et al 2010, ApJ, 709, 11
Joggerst & Whalen 2010, ApJ in prep
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)