Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
SN 2006tf is the third most luminous supernova (SN) discovered so far, after SN 2005ap and SN 2006gy. SN 2006tf 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 shocked shell. As SN 2006tf evolves, it transitions from the second to the first regime. This link suggests that the range in properties of the most luminous SNe are largely determined by the amount and speed of hydrogen-rich material ejected shortly before they explode. The total energy radiated by SN 2006tf was about 7 × 10 50 ergs. If the bulk of this luminosity came from the thermalization of shock kinetic energy, then the star needs to have ejected ∼18 M ⊙ in the 4–8 yr before core collapse, and another 2–6 M ⊙ in the decades before that. Alternatively, radioactive decay from an initial 56 Ni mass of ∼4.5 M ⊙ could also power the light curve. In either case, a Type Ia explosion of a low-mass star or core collapse in a moderately massive star are excluded. From the Hα line profile, we derive a blast-wave speed of 2,000 km s −1 that does not decelerate noticeably with time, and from the narrow P Cygni absorption from pre-shock gas we deduce that the progenitor’s
Smith et al. (Tue,) studied this question.