CSSA-KIPAC-SLAC Astrophysics Seminar: Asantha Cooray (Caltech): "The Quest for First Stars and Supernovae"

Abstract: Recent cosmic microwave background anisotropy results from the Wilkinson

Microwave Anisotropy Probe suggest that the universe was reionized

at a redshift around 20. Such an early reionization

could arise through the ionizing radiation emitted by first stars

at redshifts of 15 and higher. We discuss a possibility to detect

the presence of such stars through measurements of the near-infrared

background surface brightness spatial fluctuations. We show that the

spatial clustering of these stars at tens of arcminute scales generates a

contribution to the angular power spectrum of the IR anisotropies at the

same angular scales and this excess can be potentially detected when

resolved foreground galaxies out to a redshift of a few are removed from

the clustering analysis. We are planning a rocket-based experiment for

this purpose and we will discuss the extent to which first stars can be

identified with the Near Infrared Fluctuation Experiment (NIFE) and

ASTRO-F. The second half of the talk will discuss observational

signatures of supernovae associated with the first star population.