High-Redshift Supernovae in the Hubble Deep Field^*

Two supernovae detected in the Hubble Deep Field (HDF) using the original 1995 December epoch and data from a shorter (63,000 s in F814W) 1997 December visit with HST are discussed. The supernovae (SNe) are both associated with distinct galaxies at redshifts of 0.95 (spectroscopic) from Cohen et al. and 1.32 (photometric) from the work of Fernández-Soto, Lanzetta, & Yahil. These redshifts are near, in the case of 0.95, and well beyond, for 1.32, the greatest distance reported previously for SNe. We show that our observations are sensitive to supernovae to z ≲ 1.8 in either epoch for an event near peak brightness. Detailed simulations are discussed that quantify the level at which false events from our search phase would start to arise and the completeness of our search as a function of both SN brightness and host galaxy redshift. The number of Type Ia and Type II SNe expected as a function of redshift in the two HDF epochs are discussed in relation to several published predictions and our own detailed calculations. A mean detection frequency of one SN per epoch for the small HDF area is consistent with expectations from current theory.