Homeastro-ph.HEarXiv:2605.29909

Gamma-ray signature of superluminous supernovae: Fermi-LAT GeV detection of SN 2017egm and evidence of a central engine

astro-ph.HE2026-05v1license

Abstract

Superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) are a rare class of transients with peak luminosities 10-100 times greater than those of standard core-collapse supernovae (SNe). The mechanisms powering their extreme brightness remain debated, with circumstellar medium (CSM) interaction, or energy injection from a central engine like a magnetar wind nebula being the most plausible scenarios. To further constrain the underlying mechanism, we carried out a systematic search for GeV gamma-ray emission using the Fermi-LAT telescope from a sample of nearby hydrogen-poor (Type I) and hydrogen-rich (Type II) SLSNe over the past 16 years. Among the sample, only SN 2017egm shows significant gamma-ray emission, with likelihood test statistic (TS) values of 26-33 (i.e., >5σ\sigma) depending on the adopted time window. The signal arises between 50 and 160 days after explosion and is well described by a power-law spectrum with index Γ=2.17±0.23\Gamma=2.17 \pm 0.23. The emission is consistent both in terms of its light curve and its spectrum, with predictions from magnetar models requiring either low nebular magnetization or faster spin-down than dipole losses. The CSM shell interaction scenario can reproduce the observed flux level but not the observed timing of the gamma-ray signal. In addition, the observed ratio, Lγ/Lopt1L_{\gamma}/L_{opt} \sim 1, is inconsistent with theoretical expectations and not in line with ratio measurements in other interacting CSM-dominated objects (e.g., novae or SNe) where this ratio is less than 10210^{-2}. Our study strongly suggests that a central engine like a magnetar plays a key role in this SLSN and could explain the bulk of the optical and gamma-ray light curves properties. Finally, simulations of 50 hours of CTAO observations indicate that a SN 2017egm-like event would be detectable up to 140 Mpc in the magnetar model but not in the CSM model due to strong gamma-gamma absorption.

Comments: Published in open access A&A, 17 pages

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.29909,
  title  = {Gamma-ray signature of superluminous supernovae: Fermi-LAT GeV detection of SN 2017egm and evidence of a central engine},
  author = {F. Acero and A. Acharyya and A. Adelfio and M. Ajello and E. Aviano and L. Baldini and J. Ballet and C. Bartolini and D. Bastieri and J. Becerra Gonzalez and R. Bellazzini and E. Bissaldi and R. Bonino and P. Bruel and S. Buson and R. A. Cameron and P. A. Caraveo and F. Casaburo and F. Casini and E. Cavazzuti and C. C. Cheung and N. Cibrario and G. Cozzolongo and P. Cristarella Orestano and F. Cuna and S. Cutini and F. D'Ammando and D. Depalo and S. W. Digel and N. Di Lalla and A. Dinesh and L. Di Venere and P. Fauverge and A. Fiori and A. Franckowiak and Y. Fukazawa and S. Funk and P. Fusco and F. Gargano and C. Gasbarra and D. Gasparrini and S. Germani and F. Giacchino and N. Giglietto and M. Giliberti and F. Giordano and M. Giroletti and I. A. Grenier and M. -H. Grondin and S. Guiriec and R. Gupta and E. Hays and J. W. Hewitt and A. Holzmann Airasca and D. Horan and X. Hou and T. Kayanoki and M. Kerr and M. Kuss and A. Laviron and M. Lemoine-Goumard and A. Liguori and J. Li and I. Liodakis and P. Loizzo and F. Longo and F. Loparco and S. López Pérez and L. Lorusso and M. N. Lovellette and P. Lubrano and S. Maldera and A. Manfreda and G. Martí-Devesa and R. Martinelli and M. N. Mazziotta and M. Michailidis and P. F. Michelson and N. Mirabal and T. Mizuno and P. Monti-Guarnieri and M. E. Monzani and A. Morselli and I. V. Moskalenko and M. Negro and N. Omodei and M. Orienti and E. Orlando and G. Panzarini and M. Persic and M. Pesce-Rollins and R. Pillera and T. A. Porter and G. Principe and S. Rainò and R. Rando and B. Rani and M. Razzano and A. Reimer and O. Reimer and M. Sánchez-Conde and P. M. Saz Parkinson and D. Serini and C. Sgrò and E. J. Siskind and G. Spandre and P. Spinelli and D. J. Suson and H. Tajima and D. J. Thompson and D. F. Torres and Z. Wadiasingh and K. Wood and G. Zaharijas and W. Zhang and E. Chatzopoulos and B. D. Metzger and P. J. Pessi and I. Vurm},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.29909},
  year   = {2026}
}