Characterization of Supernovae Interacting with Dense Circumstellar Matter with a Flat Density Profile

Abstract Interaction between supernova (SN) ejecta and dense circumstellar medium (CSM) with a flat density structure ( ρ ∝ r − s , s < 1.5) was recently proposed as a possible mechanism behind interacting SNe that exhibit exceptionally long rise times exceeding 100 days. In such a configuration, the interaction luminosity keeps rising until the reverse shock propagates into the inner layers of the SN ejecta. We investigate the light curves of SNe interacting with a flatly distributed CSM in detail, incorporating the effects of photon diffusion inside the CSM into the model. We show that three physical processes—the shock breakout, the propagation of the reverse shock into the inner ejecta, and the departure of the shock from the dense CSM—predominantly determine the qualitative behavior of the light curves. Based on the presence and precedence of these processes, the light curves of SNe interacting with flatly distributed CSM can be classified into five distinct morphological classes. We also show that our model can qualitatively reproduce doubly peaked SNe whose peaks are a few tens of days apart, such as SN 2005bf and SN 2022xxf. Our results show that the density distribution of the CSM is an important property of CSM that contributes to the diversity in light curves of interacting SNe.