SN 2019vxm: A Shocking Coincidence between Fermi and TESS

TL;DR

This paper presents a detailed photometric study of the luminous Type IIn supernova SN 2019vxm, highlighting its early rise captured by TESS, a coincident X-ray transient, and implications for shock breakout in dense circumstellar environments.

Contribution

First well-sampled TESS light curve of a superluminous Type IIn supernova with a coincident X-ray source, providing new insights into shock breakout and progenitor characteristics.

Findings

Early rise well described by a broken power law with index 1.41

Constrained first light to within 7.2 hours

Identified a 3.3σ coincidence with X-ray transient GRB191117A

Abstract

Shock breakout and, in some cases, jet-driven high-energy emission are increasingly recognized as key signatures of the earliest phases of core-collapse supernovae, especially in Type IIn systems due to their dense, interaction-dominated circumstellar environments. We present a comprehensive photometric analysis of SN 2019vxm, a long-duration, luminous Type IIn supernova, $M_V^{}=-21.41\pm0.05\;{\rm mag}$, observed from X-ray to near-infrared. SN 2019vxm is the first superluminous supernovae Type IIn to be caught with well-sampled TESS photometric data on the rise and has a convincing coincident X-ray source at the time of first light. The high-cadence TESS light curve captures the early-time rise, which is well described by a broken power law with an index of $n=1.41\pm0.04$, significantly shallower than the canonical $n=2$ behavior. From this, we constrain the time of first light to within 7.2 hours. We identify a spatial and temporal coincidence between SN 2019vxm and the X-ray transient GRB191117A, corresponding to a $3.3\sigma$ association confidence. Both the short-duration X-ray event and the lightcurve modeling are consistent with shock breakout into a dense, asymmetric circumstellar medium, indicative of a massive, compact progenitor such as a luminous blue variable transitioning to Wolf-Rayet phase embedded in a clumpy, asymmetric environment.