Landing page for project EL071

SN2012au is an unusually energetic Type Ic supernova thought to be a low luminosity counterpart to superluminous supernovae (SLSNe). SLSNe can reach luminosities exceeding 100 times that of SNe-Ic and are thought to be driven by a central engine; the most likely candidate being highly magnetised rotating neutron stars (magnetars). Optical follow-up six years post collapse revealed the re-brightening of SN2012au's lightcurve. Evidence suggests that the re-brightening of the lightcurve at this late of an epoch is the result of a magnetar injecting energy into a surrounding nebula. Our team conducted VLBI observations of SN2012au in 2020 and 2021 with the EVN, revealing an emission region compact on milliarcsecond scales embedded within an extended radio source. To confirm that the compact emission is indeed from a magnetar powered nebula, we propose to observe SN2012au again, 4 years after our original observation to constrain the proper motion of the compact central region and uncover any morphological evolution of the source. Only one magnetar wind nebula (MWN) has been confirmed in the literature to-date: SN2012au therefore presents the unique opportunity to study the early evolution of MWNe and provide insights into how this supernova is powered.

This data is part of the archive of VLBI data maintained by JIVE on behalf of the EVN, a network of radio telescopes located primarily in Europe and Asia, with additional antennas in South Africa. The EVN archive itself has the DOI https://doi.org/10.17616/R3Z197