Radio afterglows of gamma-ray bursts and hypernovae at high redshift and their potential for 21 centimeter absorption studies

We investigate the radio afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and hypernovae (HNe) at high redshifts and quantify their detectability, as well as their potential usefulness for 21 cm absorption line studies of the intergalactic medium (IGM) and intervening structures. We examine several sets of source and environment model parameters that are physically plausible at high redshifts. The radio afterglows of GRBs would be detectable out to z similar to 30, while the energetic HNe could be detectable out to z similar to 20 even by the current Very Large Array (VLA). We find that the 21 cmabsorption line due to the diffuse neutral IGM is difficult to detect even by the proposed Square Kilometer Array (SKA), except for highly energetic sources. We also find that the 21 cm line due to collapsed gas clouds with high optical depth may be detected on rare occasions.