Related papers: The Most Luminous Supernovae
Following an initial explosion that might be launched either by magnetic interactions or neutrinos, a rotating magnetar radiating according to the classic dipole formula could power a very luminous supernova. While some 56Ni might be…
Two recently discovered very luminous supernovae (SNe) present stimulating cases to explore the extents of the available theoretical models. SN 2011kl represents the first detection of a supernova explosion associated with an ultra-long…
We report the discovery of ASASSN-15lh (SN 2015L), which we interpret as the most luminous supernova yet found. At redshift z = 0.2326, ASASSN-15lh reached an absolute magnitude of M_{u,AB} = -23.5+/-0.1 and bolometric luminosity L_bol =…
Supernovae (SNe), the luminous explosions of stars, were observed since antiquity, with typical peak luminosity not exceeding 1.2x10^{43} erg/s (absolute magnitude >-19.5 mag). It is only in the last dozen years that numerous examples of…
In this paper we show that the most luminous supernova discovered very recently, ASASSN-15lh, could have been powered by a newborn ultra-strongly-magnetized pulsar, which initially rotates near the Kepler limit. We find that if this pulsar…
A new class of ultra-long duration (>10,000 s) gamma-ray bursts has recently been suggested. They may originate in the explosion of stars with much larger radii than normal long gamma-ray bursts or in the tidal disruptions of a star. No…
Superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) are a population of supernovae (SNe) whose peak luminosities are much larger than those of canonical SNe. Although SLSNe were simply defined by their peak luminosity at first, it is currently recognized that…
Over a decade ago, a group of supernova explosions with peak luminosities far exceeding (often by >100) those of normal events, has been identified. These superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) have been a focus of intensive study. I review the…
The discovery of the most luminous supernova ASASSN-15lh triggered a shock-wave in the supernova community. The three possible mechanisms proposed for the majority of other superluminous supernovae do not produce a realistic physical model…
We show that energy deposited into an expanding supernova remnant by a highly magnetic (B ~ 5 x 10^14 G) neutron star spinning at an initial period of P ~ 2-20 ms can substantially brighten the light curve. For magnetars with parameters in…
A rare class of `super-luminous' supernovae that are about ten or more times more luminous at their peaks than other types of luminous supernovae has recently been found at low to intermediate redshifts. A small subset of these events have…
Supernovae (SNe) are the most brilliant optical stellar-class explosions. Over the past two decades, several optical transient survey projects discovered more than $\sim 100$ so-called superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) whose peak…
We study the most luminous known supernova (SN) associated with a gamma-ray burst (GRB), SN 2011kl. The photospheric velocity of SN 2011kl around peak brightness is $21,000\pm7,000$ km s$^{-1}$. Owing to different assumptions related to the…
The recent discovery of the unprecedentedly superluminous transient ASASSN-15lh (or SN 2015L) with its UV-bright secondary peak challenges all the power-input models that have been proposed for superluminous supernovae. Here we examine some…
The interaction of a supernova with a circumstellar medium (CSM) can dramatically increase the emitted luminosity by converting kinetic energy to thermal energy. In 'superluminous' supernovae (SLSNe) of Type IIn -- named for narrow hydrogen…
Transient surveys have recently revealed the existence of H-rich super-luminous supernovae (SLSN; e.g., iPTF14hls, OGLE-SN14-073) characterized by an exceptionally large time-integrated bolometric luminosity, a sustained blue optical color,…
We present extensive radio observations of SN 2003L, the most luminous and energetic Type Ic radio supernova with the exception of SN 1998bw. Using radio data, we are able to constrain the physical parameters of the supernova, including the…
We calculate the properties of 135 stellar supernovae using data from the Open Supernova Catalog. We generate temperatures, radii, luminosities, and expansion velocities using a spherically symmetric optically thick fireball model. These…
A massive millisecond magnetar may survive a merger of a neutron star (NS) binary, which would continuously power the merger ejecta. We develop a generic dynamic model for the merger ejecta with energy injection from the central magnetar.…
Superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) are rare transients that are $\sim 10 - 100$ times more luminous than ordinary stellar explosions, reaching peak optical luminosities $\sim 10^{44} - 10^{45}$ erg s$^{-1}$. The energy source powering SLSNe…