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Evidence for GeV Emission from the Superluminous Supernova SN 2017egm

Shang Li1,*, Yun-Feng Liang2,*, Neng-Hui Liao3, Lei Lei4,5, and Yi-Zhong Fan4,5,†

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: yzfan@pmo.ac.cn

Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 111402 – Published 17 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jhhk-ywtl

Abstract

Superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) are a new class of transients with luminosities ∼10–100 times larger than the usual core-collapse supernovae. Their origin is still unclear. One widely discussed scenario involves a millisecond magnetar central engine. The GeV-TeV emission of SLSNe has been predicted in the literature but has not been convincingly detected yet. Here, we report the results of the search for γ-ray emission in the direction of SN 2017egm, one of the closest SLSNe detected so far, using 15 years of Fermi-LAT Pass 8 data. There is a transient γ-ray source appearing about two months after this event and lasting a few months. Monte Carlo simulations show that the γ-ray signal has a global significance of at least 4σ. Both the peak time and the luminosity of the GeV emission are consistent with the magnetar model prediction, suggesting that such a GeV transient is the high-energy counterpart of SN 2017egm and the central engine of this SLSNe is a young magnetar.

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