Nathan Smith

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors presented extensive early photometric and spectroscopic data on supernova (SN) 2008D as well as X-ray data analysis on the associated Swift/X-ray transient (XRT) 080109.

TL;DR: The third most luminous supernova (SN) discovered so far, after SN 2005ap and SN 2006gy, was SN 2006tf as discussed by the authors, which is valuable because it provides a link between two regimes: (1) luminous Type IIn supernovae powered by emission directly from interaction with circumstellar material (CSM), and (2) the most extremely luminous SNe where the CSM interaction is so optically thick that energy must diffuse out from an opaque shell.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore a simple model for the high luminosity of SN 2006gy involving photon diffusion of shock-deposited thermal energy, showing that the large stellar radius required to prevent adiabatic losses is not the true stellar radius, but rather, it is the radius of an opaque, unbound circumstellar envelope, created when ∼10 M, was ejected in the decade before the supernova in an eruption analogous to that of h Carinae.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore a simple model for the high luminosity of SN 2006gy involving photon diffusion of shock-deposited thermal energy and show that any model attempting to account for SN2006gy's huge luminosity with radiation emitted by ongoing CSM interaction fails for the following basic reason: the CSM density required to achieve the observed luminosity makes the same circumstellar envelope opaque, forcing a thermal diffusion solution.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented progenitor-star detections, light curves, and optical spectra of supernova (SN) 2009ip and the 2009 optical transient in UGC 2773 (U2773-OT), which were not genuine SNe.