Superluminous Supernovae from the Dark Energy Survey

C. R. Angus, M. Smith, M. Sullivan, C. Inserra, P. Wiseman, C. B. D'Andrea, B. P. Thomas, R. C. Nichol, J. Asorey, P. J. Brown, R. Casas, F. J. Castander, C. Curtin, C. Frohmaier, L. Galbany, K. Glazebrook, D. Gruen, A. G. Kim, C. Lidman, E. Macaulay, P. Nugent, M. Pursiainen, M. Sako, R. C. Thomas, T. M. C. Abbott, S. Avila, E. Bertin, D. Brooks, E. Buckley-Geer, D. L. Burke, A. Carnero Rosell, J. Carretero, L. N. da Costa, J. De Vicente, S. Desai, H. T. Diehl, P. Doel, T. F. Eifler, B. Flaugher, P. Fosalba, J. Frieman, J. García-Bellido, R. A. Gruendl, J. Gschwend, W. G. Hartley, D. L. Hollowood, K. Honscheid, B. Hoyle, D. J. James, K. Kuehn, N. Kuropatkin, O. Lahav, M. Lima, M. A. G. Maia, M. March, J. L. Marshall, F. Menanteau, C. J. Miller, R. Miquel, R. L. C. Ogando, A. A. Plazas, A. K. Romer, E. Sanchez, R. Schindler, M. Schubnell, F. Sobreira, E. Suchyta, M. E. C. Swanson, G. Tarle, D. Thomas, D. L. Tucker

Published 2018-12-10Version 1

We present a sample of 21 hydrogen-free superluminous supernovae (SLSNe-I), and one hydrogen-rich SLSN (SLSN-II) detected during the five-year Dark Energy Survey (DES). These SNe, located in the redshift range 0.220<z<1.998, represent the largest homogeneously-selected sample of SLSN events at high redshift. We present the observed g,r, i, z light curves for these SNe, which we interpolate using Gaussian Processes. The resulting light curves are analysed to determine the luminosity function of SLSN-I, and their evolutionary timescales. The DES SLSN-I sample significantly broadens the distribution of SLSN-I light curve properties when combined with existing samples from the literature. We fit a magnetar model to our SLSNe, and find that this model alone is unable to replicate the behaviour of many of the bolometric light curves. We search the DES SLSN-I light curves for the presence of initial peaks prior to the main light-curve peak. Using a shock breakout model, our Monte Carlo search finds that 3 of our 14 events with pre-max data display such initial peaks. However, 10 events show no evidence for such peaks, in some cases down to an absolute magnitude of <-16, suggesting that such features are not ubiquitous to all SLSN-I events. We also identify a red pre-peak feature within the light curve of one SLSN, which is comparable to that observed within SN2018bsz.