2013MNRAS.435.2483T

Observational identification of the first stars is one of the great challenges in the modern astronomy. Although a single first star is too faint to be detected, supernova explosions of the first stars can be bright enough. An important question is whether such supernovae can be detected in the limited observational area with realistic observational resources. We perform detailed simulations to study the detectability of superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) at high redshifts, using the observationally calibrated star formation rate density and supernova occurrence rate. We show that a 100deg2 survey with the limiting magnitude of 26 mag in near-infrared wavelengths will be able to discover about 10 SLSNe at z> 10. If the survey is extended to 200 deg2 with 27mag depth, about 10 SLSNe can be discovered at z> 15. We emphasize that the observations at ≥ 3 µm are crucial to detect and select SLSNe at z> 10. Our simulations are also applied to the planned survey with Euclid, Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) and Wide-field Imaging Surveyor for High-redshift (WISH). These surveys will be able to detect about 1000, 400 and 3000 SLSNe up to z ∼ 5, 7 and 12, respectively. We conclude that detection of SLSNe at z> 10 is in fact achievable in the near future.