MULTICOLOR LIGHT CURVE SIMULATIONS OF POPULATION III CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVAE: FROM SHOCK BREAKOUT TO 56CO DECAY.

The properties of the first generation of stars and their supernova (SN) explosions remain unknown due to the lack of actual observations. Recently, many transient surveys have been conducted and the feasibility of detecting supernovae (SNe) of Pop III stars is growing. In this paper, we study the multicolor light curves for a number of metal-free core-collapse SN models (25–100 ) to determine the indicators for the detection and identification of first generation SNe. We use mixing-fallback supernova explosion models that explain the observed abundance patterns of metal-poor stars. Numerical calculations of the multicolor light curves are performed using the multigroup radiation hydrodynamic code stella. The calculated light curves of metal-free SNe are compared with non-zero-metallicity models and several observed SNe. We have found that the shock breakout characteristics, the evolution of the photosphere’s velocity, the luminosity, and the duration and color evolution of the plateau, that is, all of the SN phases from shock breakout to 56Co decay, are helpful for estimating the parameters of the SN progenitor: the mass, the radius, the explosion energy, and the metallicity. We conclude that the multicolor light curves could potentially be used to identify first-generation SNe in current (Subaru/HSC) and future transient surveys (LSST, James Webb Space Telescope). They are also suitable for identifying low-metallicity SNe in the nearby universe (PTF, Pan-STARRS, Gaia). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]