Numerical simulations of super-luminous supernovae of type IIn

TL;DR

This paper presents detailed numerical simulations of super-luminous Type IIn supernovae, revealing complex radiation transfer and spectral evolution that align with observations of notable supernovae like SN2010jl.

Contribution

It introduces comprehensive multi-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics models that improve understanding of super-luminous SNe IIn and their spectral and light curve features.

Findings

Radiation leaks continuously from the shock through the CSM, contradicting shell-shocked models.

Spectral evolution shows reddening and shifting from near-UV to optical over a year.

Models can reproduce observed polarization and luminosity variations in SN2010jl.

Abstract

We present numerical simulations that include 1-D Eulerian multi-group radiation-hydrodynamics, 1-D non-LTE radiative transfer, and 2-D polarised radiative transfer for super-luminous interacting supernovae (SNe). Our reference model is a ~10Msun inner shell with 10^51erg ramming into a ~3Msun cold outer shell (the circumstellar-medium, or CSM) that extends from 10^15cm to 2x10^16cm and moves at 100km/s. We discuss the light curve evolution, which cannot be captured adequately with a grey approach. In these interactions, the shock-crossing time through the optically-thick CSM is much longer than the photon diffusion time. Radiation is thus continuously leaking from the shock through the CSM, in disagreement with the shell-shocked model that is often invoked. Our spectra redden with time, with a peak distribution in the near-UV during the first month gradually shifting to the optical range over the following year. Initially Balmer lines exhibit a narrow line core and the broad line wings that are characteristic of electron scattering in the SNe IIn atmospheres (CSM). At later times they also exhibit a broad blue shifted component which arises from the cold dense shell. Our model results are broadly consistent with the bolometric light curve and spectral evolution observed for SN2010jl. Invoking a prolate pole-to-equator density ratio in the CSM, we can also reproduce the ~2% continuum polarisation, and line depolarisation, observed in SN2010jl. By varying the inner shell kinetic energy and the mass and extent of the outer shell, a large range of peak luminosities and durations, broadly compatible with super-luminous SNe IIn like 2010jl or 2006gy, can be produced.