Swift UVOT Observations of Core-Collapse SNe

TL;DR

This paper reviews UV observations of core-collapse supernovae with Swift UVOT, highlighting their importance for classification, understanding physical properties, and interpreting high-redshift observations.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of UV observations of core-collapse SNe, emphasizing their role in classification and physical analysis, based on Swift UVOT data from the first two years.

Findings

UV photometry helps differentiate SN types.

SN2006jc was a UV-bright SN Ib.

UV observations constrain temperature and ionization.

Abstract

We review recent UV observations of core-collapse supernovae (SNe) with the Swift Ultra-violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) during its first two years. Rest-frame UV photometry is useful for differentiating SN types by exploiting the UV-optical spectral shape and more subtle UV features. This is useful for the real-time classification of local and high-redshift SNe using only photometry. Two remarkable SNe Ib/c were observed with UVOT -- SN2006jc was a UV bright SN Ib. Swift observations of GRB060218/SN2006aj began shortly after the explosion and show a UV-bright peak followed by a UV-faint SN bump. UV observations are also useful for constraining the temperature and ionization structure of SNe IIP. Rest-frame UV observations of all types are important for understanding the extinction, temperature, and bolometric luminosity of SNe and to interpret the observations of high redshift SNe observed at optical wavelengths.