Project description
What makes superluminous supernovae so luminous: a multi-scale investigation
Superluminous supernovae are a new class of supernovae that are 10-100 times brighter than conventional supernovae or stellar explosions, but much rarer. Discovered over the last decade, their energy sources and progenitors are the subject of intense debate. Scientists have suggested they require either an exotic explosion mechanism or an additional energy source to achieve such tremendous luminosities. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SUPERS project aims to address this challenge with detailed studies of individual supernovae, key population properties and studies of their host galaxy environments using unique data sets from the Palomar Transient Factory, the upcoming Zwicky Transient Facility and the Hubble Space Telescope.
Objective
“Superluminous” supernovae are a rare class of transients, with peak luminosities outshining ordinary core-collapse and Type Ia supernovae by factors of 10s-100, and are primarily found in dwarf galaxies. Now a decade after their discovery (and with more than 100 such supernovae reported), the energy sources and progenitors of superluminous supernovae are still a subject of intense debate, requiring either an exotic explosion mechanism (such as a pair-instability explosion) or an additional energy source (a rapidly spinning down magnetar, or interaction with dense circumstellar material). Thus, superluminous supernovae represent a challenge to our understanding both of the deaths of the most massive stars, of star formation and stellar evolution in low-metallicity environments, and of the powering of optical emission in supernovae. To make progress, several complimentary approaches are needed. Detailed studies of individual supernovae, particularly at late times, can reveal key signatures of the underlying energy source. On a larger scale, key properties of the population such as the absolute rates are currently only poorly constrained. Finally, studies of their host galaxy environments carry information about the underlying stellar populations, and therefore the progenitor stars. This action aims to uncover the progenitors and energy sources of superluminous supernovae by targeting each of these areas, utilizing one-of-a-kind data sets from the Palomar Transient Factory, the upcoming Zwicky Transient Facility, and the Hubble Space Telescope.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinator
10691 Stockholm
Sweden