  (Abridged) Recent cosmic microwave background anisotropy results from the
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe suggest that the universe was reionized at
a redshift around 20. Such an early reionization could arise through the
ionizing radiation emitted by metal-free population III stars at redshifts of
10 and higher. We discuss infrared background (IRB) surface brightness spatial
fluctuations from such a generation of early star formation. We show that the
spatial clustering of these stars at tens of arcminute scales generates a
contribution to the angular power spectrum of the IRB anisotropies at the same
angular scales. This excess can be potentially detected when resolved
foreground galaxies out to a redshift of a few is removed from the clustering
analysis. Additionally, assuming a population III stellar spectrum, we suggest
that the clustering excess related to the first generation of stars can be
separated from brightness fluctuations resulting from other foreground sources
and galaxies using multifrequency observations in the wavelength range of ~ 1
to 5 microns. In addition to removing the low-redshift galaxy population, the
multifrequency data are essential to account for certain foreground
contaminants such zodiacal light, which, if varying spatially over degree
scales, can be a significant source of confusion for the proposed study. Using
various instruments, we study the extent to which spatial fluctuations of the
IRB can be studied in the near future.
