Finding the First Cosmic Explosions II: Core-Collapse Supernovae
  Understanding the properties of Pop III stars is prerequisite to elucidating
the nature of primeval galaxies, the chemical enrichment and reionization of
the early IGM, and the origin of supermassive black holes. While the primordial
IMF remains unknown, recent evidence from numerical simulations and stellar
archaeology suggests that some Pop III stars may have had lower masses than
previously thought, 15 - 50 \Ms in addition to 50 - 500 \Ms. The detection of
Pop III supernovae by JWST, WFIRST or the TMT could directly probe the
primordial IMF for the first time. We present numerical simulations of 15 - 40
\Ms Pop III core-collapse SNe done with the Los Alamos radiation hydrodynamics
code RAGE. We find that they will be visible in the earliest galaxies out to z
~ 10 - 15, tracing their star formation rates and in some cases revealing their
positions on the sky. Since the central engines of Pop III and
solar-metallicity core-collapse SNe are quite similar, future detection of any
Type II supernovae by next-generation NIR instruments will in general be
limited to this epoch.
