Probing the initial mass function of the first stars with transients

The emergence of the first, so-called Population III (Pop III), stars shaped early cosmic history in ways that crucially depends on their initial mass function (IMF). However, because of the absence of direct observational constraints, the detailed IMF remains elusive. Nevertheless, numerical simulations agree in broad terms that the first stars were typically massive and should often end their lives in violent, explosive deaths. These fates include extremely luminous pair-instability supernovae (PISNe) and bright gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the latter arising from the collapse of rapidly rotating progenitor stars into black holes. These high-redshift transients are expected to be within the detection limits of upcoming space telescope missions, allowing to place effective constraints on the shape of the primordial IMF that is not easily accessible with other probes. This paper presents a framework to probe the Pop III IMF, utilizing the cosmological source densities of high-redshift PISNe and GRBs. Considering these transients separately could provide useful constraints on the Pop III IMF, but tighter bounds are obtainable by combining PISN and GRB counts. This combined diagnostic is more robust as it is independent of the underlying Pop III star formation rate density, an unknown prior. Future surveys promise to capture most high-redshift GRBs across the entire sky, but high-redshift PISN searches with future telescopes, e.g. Roman Space Telescope, will likely be substantially incomplete. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that even such lower bounds on the PISN count will be able to provide key constraints on the primordial IMF, in particular, if it is top-heavy or not.

Automated summary

The first generation of stars, known as Population III stars, played a crucial role in shaping the early universe, and their formation and evolution depend on the initial mass function (IMF). However, the detailed IMF remains elusive due to a lack of direct observational constraints. This paper presents a framework to probe the Pop III IMF using high-redshift pair-instability supernovae (PISNe) and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The combination of these observations can provide more accurate constraints on the IMF. Future observations have the potential to further enhance our understanding of the IMF.