Superluminous supernovae

2024/07/17 by Takashi J. Moriya, Moriya, Takashi J.
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2407.12302

openalex publication_date 2024/07/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

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 they show rich spectroscopic diversities including hydrogen-poor (Type I) and hydrogen-rich (Type II) subtypes. The exact mechanisms making SLSNe luminous are still not fully understood, but there are mainly four major suggested luminosity sources (radioactive decay of 56Ni, circumstellar interaction, magnetar spin-down, and fallback accretion). We provide an overview of observational properties of SLSNe and major theoretical models for them. Future transient surveys are expected to discover SLSNe at high redshifts which will provide a critical information in revealing their nature.

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