TY - JOUR

T1 - An extremely energetic supernova from a very massive star in a dense medium

AU - Nicholl, Matt

AU - Blanchard, Peter K.

AU - Berger, Edo

AU - Chornock, Ryan

AU - Margutti, Raffaella

AU - Gomez, Sebastian

AU - Lunnan, Ragnhild

AU - Miller, Adam A.

AU - Fong, Wen-fai

AU - Terreran, Giacomo

AU - Vigna-Gomez, Alejandro

AU - Bhirombhakdi, Kornpob

AU - Bieryla, Allyson

AU - Challis, Pete

AU - Laher, Russ R.

AU - Masci, Frank J.

AU - Paterson, Kerry

PY - 2020/4/13

Y1 - 2020/4/13

N2 - 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 of type IIn-named for narrow hydrogen lines(1) in their spectra-the integrated emission can reach(2-6) similar to 10(51) erg, attainable by thermalizing most of the kinetic energy of a conventional supernova. A few transients in the centres of active galaxies have shown similar spectra and even larger energies(7,8), but are difficult to distinguish from accretion onto the supermassive black hole. Here we present a new event, SN2016aps, offset from the centre of a low-mass galaxy, that radiated greater than or similar to 5 x 10(51) erg, necessitating a hyper-energetic supernova explosion. We find a total (supernova ejecta + CSM) mass likely exceeding 50-100 M-circle dot, with energy greater than or similar to 10(52) erg, consistent with some models of pair-instability supernovae or pulsational pair-instability supernovae-theoretically predicted thermonuclear explosions from helium cores >50 M-circle dot. Independent of the explosion mechanism, this event demonstrates the existence of extremely energetic stellar explosions, detectable at very high redshifts, and provides insight into dense CSM formation in the most massive stars.

AB - 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 of type IIn-named for narrow hydrogen lines(1) in their spectra-the integrated emission can reach(2-6) similar to 10(51) erg, attainable by thermalizing most of the kinetic energy of a conventional supernova. A few transients in the centres of active galaxies have shown similar spectra and even larger energies(7,8), but are difficult to distinguish from accretion onto the supermassive black hole. Here we present a new event, SN2016aps, offset from the centre of a low-mass galaxy, that radiated greater than or similar to 5 x 10(51) erg, necessitating a hyper-energetic supernova explosion. We find a total (supernova ejecta + CSM) mass likely exceeding 50-100 M-circle dot, with energy greater than or similar to 10(52) erg, consistent with some models of pair-instability supernovae or pulsational pair-instability supernovae-theoretically predicted thermonuclear explosions from helium cores >50 M-circle dot. Independent of the explosion mechanism, this event demonstrates the existence of extremely energetic stellar explosions, detectable at very high redshifts, and provides insight into dense CSM formation in the most massive stars.

KW - SUPERLUMINOUS SUPERNOVAE

KW - LUMINOUS SUPERNOVA

KW - IIN SUPERNOVA

KW - SPECTROGRAPH

KW - RESOLUTION

KW - EVOLUTION

KW - DISCOVERY

KW - ERUPTIONS

KW - SN-2006GY

KW - EVENTS

U2 - 10.1038/s41550-020-1066-7

DO - 10.1038/s41550-020-1066-7

M3 - Journal article

VL - 4

SP - 893

EP - 899

JO - Nature Astronomy

JF - Nature Astronomy

SN - 2397-3366

ER -