Modeling The Most Luminous Supernova Associated with a Gamma-Ray Burst, SN 2011kl

Abstract We study the most luminous known supernova (SN) associated with a gamma-ray burst (GRB), SN 2011kl. The photospheric velocity of SN 2011kl around peak brightness is 21,000 ± 7000 km s −1 . Owing to different assumptions related to the light-curve (LC) evolution (broken or unbroken power-law function) of the optical afterglow of GRB 111209A, different techniques for the LC decomposition, and different methods (with or without a near-infrared contribution), three groups derived three different bolometric LCs for SN 2011kl. Previous studies have shown that the LCs without an early-time excess preferred a magnetar model, a magnetar+ 56 Ni model, or a white dwarf tidal disruption event model rather than the radioactive heating model. On the other hand, the LC shows an early-time excess and dip that cannot be reproduced by the aforementioned models, and hence the blue-supergiant model was proposed to explain it. Here, we reinvestigate the energy sources powering SN 2011kl. We find that the two LCs without the early-time excess of SN 2011kl can be explained by the magnetar+ 56 Ni model, and the LC showing the early excess can be explained by the magnetar+ 56 Ni model taking into account the cooling emission from the shock-heated envelope of the SN progenitor, demonstrating that this SN might primarily be powered by a nascent magnetar.