CGCA Seminar – Dr. Logan Prust

Frame-Dragging Reveals Central Engine of a Superluminous Supernova

Dr. Logan Prust
Center for Computational Astrophysics – Simons Foundation

Type I superluminous supernovae (SLSNe-I) are an order of magnitude brighter than standard supernovae, with the internal power source for their luminosity still unknown. The central engines of SLSNe-I are hypothesized to be magnetars, but many SLSNe-I light curves exhibit multiple bumps or peaks that are unexplained by the standard magnetar model. Systematic surveys of the limited sample of SLSNe-I light curves find no compelling evidence favoring either scenario, leaving both the nature of the light-curve fluctuations and the applicability of the magnetar model unresolved. In this talk, I report high-cadence multiband observations of an SLSN-I with clear “chirped” light-curve bumps that can be directly linked to the properties of the magnetar central engine. Our observations are consistent with a tilted, infalling accretion disk undergoing Lense-Thirring precession around a magnetar centrally located within the expanding supernova ejecta. Our model demonstrates that the overall light curve and bump frequency independently and self-consistently constrain the spin period and magnetic field strength of the magnetar. Our results provide the first observational evidence of frame-dragging in the environment of a magnetar and confirm the magnetar spin-down model as an explanation for the extreme luminosity observed in SLSNe-I.