The Most Luminous Supernovae

TL;DR

This paper investigates the physical limits of supernova luminosity and energy output, identifying magnetar-powered explosions as the brightest possible, and compares models to recent observations like ASASSN-15lh.

Contribution

It provides analytic limits for supernova peak luminosity and total energy, highlighting magnetar models as the most luminous and applying these to recent transient events.

Findings

Magnetar-powered supernovae can reach peak luminosities of 2×10^{46} erg/s.

Maximum total radiated energy for non-relativistic supernovae is around 4×10^{52} erg.

Excluding magnetars, peak luminosity is limited to about 10^{44} erg/s.

Abstract

Recent observations have revealed an amazing diversity of extremely luminous supernovae, seemingly increasing in radiant energy without bound. We consider here the physical limits of what existing models can provide for the peak luminosity and total radiated energy for non-relativistic, isotropic stellar explosions. The brightest possible supernova is a Type I explosion powered by a sub-millisecond magnetar. Such models can reach a peak luminosity of $\rm 2\times10^{46}\ erg\ s^{-1}$ and radiate a total energy of $\rm 4 \times10^{52}\ erg$. Other less luminous models are also explored, including prompt hyper-energetic explosions in red supergiants, pulsational-pair instability supernovae, and pair-instability supernovae. Approximate analytic expressions and limits are given for each case. Excluding magnetars, the peak luminosity is near $\rm 1\times10^{44}\ erg\ s^{-1}$ for the brightest models. The corresponding limits on total radiated power are $\rm3 \times 10^{51}\ erg$ (Type I) and $\rm1 \times 10^{51}\ erg$ (Type II). A magnetar-based model for the recent transient event, ASASSN-15lh is presented that strains, but does not exceed the limits of what the model can provide.