Not So Heavy Metal I: Low Metallicity Enhances the Rate of high-redshift Superluminous Supernovae
Abstract
Type-I superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) are extremely luminous stellar explosions originating from the core collapse of massive stars. Unlike normal core-collapse supernovae, however, SLSNe occur almost exclusively in metal-poor environments. As a result, their volumetric rate should not simply trace the cosmic star-formation history, but instead evolve with the metallicity distribution of galaxies across cosmic time. In this work, we introduce a new theoretical framework for modeling the volumetric rate of astrophysical sources as a function of redshift and metallicity. Our formalism combines metallicity scaling relations, stellar-mass distribution functions, and metallicity-dependent production efficiencies. Importantly, it also distinguishes between metallicity measures based on O/H and Fe/H abundances. Applying our new formalism to SLSNe, we predict volumetric rates that are nearly an order of magnitude higher at z ≳ 2 compared to models in which the rate traces the cosmic star-formation rate alone. This has direct implications on the detection prospects of high-z SLSNe with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and other time-domain surveys.
Related
- Blackbody evolution and circumstellar medium properties of broad-lined H-rich superluminous supernovae
- Witnessing the Earliest Phases of Galactic Wind Formation in Superluminous Supernova Hosts: Implications for Star-formation-driven Outflows in Low- and High-redshift Galaxies
- The JADES Mass–Metallicity and Fundamental Metallicity Relations at z ≳ 2 Using New High-redshift Metallicity Calibrations
- The DESIRED strong-line calibrations: I. New empirical metallicity relations for the local and high-redshift universe
- The AURORA Survey: High-redshift Empirical Metallicity Calibrations from Electron Temperature Measurements at z = 2–10
BibTeX
@misc{margalit2026heavy,
title = {{Not So Heavy Metal I: Low Metallicity Enhances the Rate of high-redshift Superluminous Supernovae}},
author = {Ben Margalit and Allison L. Strom and Cristina Andrade and Michael W. Coughlin and Adam A. Miller and Steve Schulze and Ved G. Shah},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.38299},
eprint = {2609.38299},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.38299},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Not So Heavy Metal I: Low Metallicity Enhances the Rate of high-redshift Superluminous Supernovae
AU - Ben Margalit
AU - Allison L. Strom
AU - Cristina Andrade
AU - Michael W. Coughlin
AU - Adam A. Miller
AU - Steve Schulze
AU - Ved G. Shah
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.38299
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.38299
AB - Type-I superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) are extremely luminous stellar explosions originating from the core collapse of massive stars. Unlike normal core-collapse supernovae, however, SLSNe occur almost exclusively in metal-poor environments. As a result, their volumetric rate should not simply trace the cosmic star-formation history, but instead evolve with the metallicity distribution of galaxies across cosmic time. In this work, we introduce a new theoretical framework for modeling the volumetric rate of astrophysical sources as a function of redshift and metallicity. Our formalism combines metallicity scaling relations, stellar-mass distribution functions, and metallicity-dependent production efficiencies. Importantly, it also distinguishes between metallicity measures based on O/H and Fe/H abundances. Applying our new formalism to SLSNe, we predict volumetric rates that are nearly an order of magnitude higher at z ≳ 2 compared to models in which the rate traces the cosmic star-formation rate alone. This has direct implications on the detection prospects of high-z SLSNe with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and other time-domain surveys.
ER -