A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Sample of hydrogen-rich superluminous supernovae from the Zwicky Transient Facility
Authors: Pessi, P Priscila J.; Lunnan, Ragnhild; Sollerman Jesper; Schulze, Steve; Gkini, Anamaria; Gangopadhyay, Anjasha; Yan, Lin; Gal-Yam, Avishay; Perley, Daniel A.; Chen, Ting-Wan; Hinds, K-Ryan; Brennan, S.J.; Hu, Yang; Singh, Avinash; Andreoni, Igor; Cook, David O.; Fremling, Christoffer; Ho, Anna Y.Q.; Sharma, Yashvi.; van Velzen, S.; Kangas, Tuomas; Wold, Avery; Bellm, Eric C.ristopher; Bloom, Joshua S.; Graham, Matthew J.; Kasliwal, Mansi M.; Kulkarni, Shrinivas R.; Riddle, Reed; Rusholme, Benjamin
Publisher: EDP Sciences
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Journal name in source: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Article number: A142
Volume: 695
ISSN: 0004-6361
eISSN: 1432-0746
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202452014
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202452014
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/491625626
Context. Hydrogen-rich superluminous supernovae (SLSNe II) are rare. The exact mechanism producing their extreme light curve peaks is not understood. Analysis of single events and small samples suggest that circumstellar material (CSM) interaction is the main mechanism responsible for the observed features. However, other mechanisms cannot be discarded. Large sample analysis can provide clarification.
Aims. We aim to characterize the light curves of a sample of 107 SLSNe II to provide valuable information that can be used to validate theoretical models.
Methods. We analyzed the gri light curves of SLSNe II obtained through ZTF. We studied the peak absolute magnitudes and characteristic timescales. When possible, we computed the g − r colors and pseudo-bolometric light curves, and estimated lower limits for their total radiated energy. We also studied the luminosity distribution of our sample and estimated the fraction that would be observable by the LSST. Finally, we compared our sample to other H-rich SNe and to H-poor SLSNe I.
Results. SLSNe II are heterogeneous. Their median peak absolute magnitude is ∼−20.3 mag in optical bands. Their rise can take from ∼two weeks to over three months, and their decline times range from ∼twenty days to over a year. We found no significant correlations between peak magnitude and timescales. SLSNe II tend to show fainter peaks, longer declines, and redder colors than SLSNe I.
Conclusions. We present the largest sample of SLSN II light curves to date, comprising 107 events. Their diversity could be explained by different CSM morphologies, although theoretical analysis is needed to explore alternative scenarios. Other luminous transients, such as active galactic nuclei, tidal disruption events or SNe Ia-CSM, can easily become contaminants. Thus, good multiwavelength light curve coverage becomes paramount. LSST could miss ∼30% of the ZTF events in its gri band footprint.
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Funding information in the publication:
PJP thanks Laureano Martinez, Stephen Thorp and Takashi Nagao for useful discussions. We thank the referee for the valuable revision. Funded by the European Union (ERC, project number 101042299, TransPIre). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. AGY’s research is supported by the ISF GW excellence center, as well as the André Deloro Institute for Space and Optics Research, the Center for Experimental Physics, the Norman E Alexander Family M Foundation ULTRASAT Data Center Fund, and Yeda-Sela; AGY is the incumbent of The Arlyn Imberman Professorial Chair. T.-W.C. acknowledges the Yushan Fellow Program by the Ministry of Education, Taiwan for the financial support (MOE-111-YSFMS-0008-001-P1). MMK acknowledges generous support from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation. This work was supported by the GROWTH project (Kasliwal et al. 2019) funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1545949. This work is based on observations obtained with the Samuel Oschin Telescope 48-inch and the 60-inch Telescope at the Palomar Observatory as part of the Zwicky Transient Facility project. ZTF is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. AST-1440341 and AST-2034437 and a collaboration including current partners Caltech, IPAC, the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Oskar Klein Center at Stockholm University, the University of Maryland, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron and Humboldt University, the TANGO Consortium of Taiwan, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Trinity College Dublin, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, IN2P3, University of Warwick, Ruhr University Bochum, Northwestern University and former partners the University of Washington, Los Alamos National Laboratories, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. Operations are conducted by COO, IPAC, and UW. The ZTF forced-photometry service was funded under the Heising-Simons Foundation grant No. 12540303 (PI: Graham). The SED Machine is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1106171 This work has made use of data from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) project. The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) project is primarily funded to search for near earth asteroids through NASA grants NN12AR55G, 80NSSC18K0284, and 80NSSC18K1575; byproducts of the NEO search include images and catalogs from the survey area. This work was partially funded by Kepler/K2 grant J1944/80NSSC19K0112 and HST GO-15889, and STFC grants ST/T000198/1 and ST/S006109/1. The ATLAS science products have been made possible through the contributions of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, the Queen’s University Belfast, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the South African Astronomical Observatory, and The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS), Chile. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database, which is funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and operated by the California Institute of Technology.
