A universal relation predicts the observed reversal of a supernova chirp

Abstract

Superluminous supernovae, among the brightest stellar explosions, are thought to be powered by newborn magnetars. One such event, SN 2024afav, ``chirped'', displaying sinusoidal, increasing-frequency (P(99 d)∼39±8 d to P(166 d)∼17±5 d) light-curve modulations. The model explaining this chirp, a precessing disk falling onto the dimming magnetar, generalizes to a normalization-independent universal relation between the period derivative and the dimming rate of the light curve. Applied to the published chirp alone, with the spin-down time measured from the unmodulated light curve, the relation predicts that the chirp must halt near t ≈ 150 d and reverse. With continued follow-up of SN 2024afav, we report the discovery of five new modulations in which the chirp reverses (P(177 d)∼24±4 d to P(208 d)∼38±2 d) at t=147±3 d, as predicted. Applied to chirping events from upcoming surveys, the relation could identify the precession mechanism and disk physics of each engine.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{farah2026universal,
  title = {{A universal relation predicts the observed reversal of a supernova chirp}},
  author = {Joseph R. Farah and Logan J. Prust and Hang Yu},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.39240},
  eprint = {2610.39240},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.39240},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - A universal relation predicts the observed reversal of a supernova chirp
AU  - Joseph R. Farah
AU  - Logan J. Prust
AU  - Hang Yu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/29
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.39240
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.39240
AB  - Superluminous supernovae, among the brightest stellar explosions, are thought to be powered by newborn magnetars. One such event, SN 2024afav, ``chirped'', displaying sinusoidal, increasing-frequency (P(99 d)∼39±8 d to P(166 d)∼17±5 d) light-curve modulations. The model explaining this chirp, a precessing disk falling onto the dimming magnetar, generalizes to a normalization-independent universal relation between the period derivative and the dimming rate of the light curve. Applied to the published chirp alone, with the spin-down time measured from the unmodulated light curve, the relation predicts that the chirp must halt near t ≈ 150 d and reverse. With continued follow-up of SN 2024afav, we report the discovery of five new modulations in which the chirp reverses (P(177 d)∼24±4 d to P(208 d)∼38±2 d) at t=147±3 d, as predicted. Applied to chirping events from upcoming surveys, the relation could identify the precession mechanism and disk physics of each engine.
ER  -

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