Detection strategies for the first supernovae with JWST

Understand

Pair-instability supernovae (PISNe) are very luminous explosions of massive, low metallicity stars.

• They can potentially be observed out to high redshifts due to their high explosion energies, thus providing a probe of the Universe prior to reionization.
• The near-infrared camera, NIRCam, on board the James Webb Space Telescope is ideally suited for detecting their redshifted ultraviolet emission.
• We calculate the photometric signature of high-redshift PISNe and derive the optimal detection strategy for identifying their prompt emission and possible afterglow.