A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Superluminous supernovae from the Dark Energy Survey
Authors: Angus CR, Smith M, Sullivan M, Inserra C, Wiseman P, D'Andrea CB, Thomas BP, Nichol RC, Galbany L, Childress M, Asorey J, Brown PJ, Casas R, Castander FJ, Curtin C, Frohmaier C, Glazebrook K, Gruen D, Gutierrez C, Kessler R, Kim AG, Lidman C, Macaulay E, Nugent P, Pursiainen M, Sako M, Soares-Santos M, Thomas RC, Abbott TMC, Avila S, Bertin E, Brooks D, Buckley-Geer E, Burke DL, Rosell AC, Carretero J, da Costa LN, De Vicente J, Desai S, Diehl HT, Doel P, Eifler TF, Flaugher B, Fosalba P, Frieman J, Garcia-Bellido J, Gruendl RA, Gschwend J, Hartley WG, Hollowood DL, Honscheid K, Hoyle B, James DJ, Kuehn K, Kuropatkin N, Lahav O, Lima M, Maia MAG, March M, Marshall JL, Menanteau F, Miller CJ, Miquel R, Ogando RLC, Plazas AA, Romer AK, Sanchez E, Schindler R, Schubnell M, Sobreira F, Suchyta E, Swanson MEC, Tarle G, Thomas D, Tucker DL
Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS
Publication year: 2019
Journal:Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Journal name in sourceMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Journal acronym: MON NOT R ASTRON SOC
Volume: 487
Issue: 2
First page : 2215
Last page: 2241
Number of pages: 27
ISSN: 0035-8711
eISSN: 1365-2966
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz1321
Web address : https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/487/2/2215/5493120
We present a sample of 21 hydrogen-free superluminous supernovae (SLSNe-I) and one hydrogen-rich SLSN (SLSN-II) detected during the five-year Dark Energy Survey (DES). These SNe, located in the redshift range 0.220 < z < 1.998, represent the largest homogeneously selected sample of SLSN events at high redshift. We present the observed g, r, i, z light curves for these SNe, which we interpolate using Gaussian processes. The resulting light curves are analysed to determine the luminosity function of SLSNe-I, and their evolutionary time-scales. The DES SLSN-I sample significantly broadens the distribution of SLSN-I light-curve properties when combined with existing samples from the literature. We fit a magnetar model to our SLSNe, and find that this model alone is unable to replicate the behaviour of many of the bolometric light curves. We search theDES SLSN-I light curves for the presence of initial peaks prior to the main light-curve peak. Using a shock breakout model, our Monte Carlo search finds that 3 of our 14 eventswith pre-max data display such initial peaks. However, 10 events showno evidence for such peaks, in some cases downto an absolutemagnitude of <-16, suggesting that such features are not ubiquitous to all SLSN-I events. We also identify a red pre-peak feature within the light curve of one SLSN, which is comparable to that observed within SN2018bsz.
