Galaxy Evolution and the Cosmic Rate of Supernovae

Piero Madau

Published 1998-01-02Version 1

Ongoing searches for supernovae (SNe) at cosmological distances have recently started to provide a link between SN Ia statistics and galaxy evolution. In this talk I will use recent estimates of the global history of star formation to compute the theoretical Type Ia and Type II SN rates as a function of cosmic time. I will compare the predicted values with the rates observed in the range 0<z<0.4, and show how accurate measurements of the frequency of SN events at intermediate redshifts are valuable probes of the evolution of the stellar birthrate in the universe and the nature of Type Ia progenitors. The Next Generation Space Telescope should detect of order 20 Type II SNe per field per year in the interval 1<z<4.