arXiv subjects

Brian D. Metzger

Publications and source records attributed to Brian D. Metzger.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Light Curve Model for Luminous Red Novae and Inferences about the Ejecta of Stellar Mergers

The process of unstable mass transfer in a stellar binary can result in either a complete merger of the stars or successful removal of the donor envelope leaving a surviving more compact binary. "Luminous red nova" (LRN) are the class of optical transients believed to accompany such merger/common envelope events. Past works typically model LRNe using analytic formulae for supernova light curves which make assumptions (e.g., radiation dominated ejecta, neglect of hydrogen recombination energy) not justified in stellar mergers due to the lower velocities and specific thermal energy of the ejecta. We present a one-dimensional model of LRN light curves, which accounts for these effects. Consistent with observations, we find that LRNe typically possess two light curve peaks, an early phase powered by initial thermal energy of the hot, fastest ejecta layers and a later peak powered by hydrogen recombination from the bulk of the ejecta. We apply our model to a sample of LRNe to infer their ejecta properties (mass, velocity, and launching radius) and compare them to the progenitor donor star properties from pre-transient imaging. We define a maximum luminosity achievable for a given donor star in the limit that the entire envelope is ejected, finding that several LRNe violate this limit. Shock interaction between the ejecta and pre-dynamical mass-loss, may provide an additional luminosity source to alleviate this tension. Our model can also be applied to the merger of planets with stars or stars with compact objects.

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arXiv2022

Three-Dimensional General-Relativistic Simulations of Neutrino-Driven Winds from Rotating Proto-Neutron Stars

We explore the effects of rapid rotation on the properties of neutrino-heated winds from proto-neutron stars (PNS) formed in core-collapse supernovae or neutron-star mergers by means of three-dimensional general-relativistic hydrodynamical simulations with M0 neutrino transport. We focus on conditions characteristic of a few seconds into the PNS cooling evolution when the neutrino luminosities obey $L_{ν_e} + L_{\barν_e} \approx 7\times 10^{51}$ erg s$^{-1}$, and over which most of the wind mass-loss will occur. After an initial transient phase, all of our models reach approximately steady-state outflow solutions with positive energies and sonic surfaces captured on the computational grid. Our non-rotating and slower-rotating models (angular velocity relative to Keplerian $Ω/Ω_{\rm K} \lesssim 0.4$; spin period $P \gtrsim 2$ ms) generate approximately spherically symmetric outflows with properties in good agreement with previous PNS wind studies. By contrast, our most rapidly spinning PNS solutions ($Ω/Ω_{\rm K} \gtrsim 0.75$; $P \approx 1$ ms) generate outflows focused in the rotational equatorial plane with much higher mass-loss rates (by over an order of magnitude), lower velocities, lower entropy, and lower asymptotic electron fractions, than otherwise similar non-rotating wind solutions. Although such rapidly spinning PNS are likely rare in nature, their atypical nucleosynthetic composition and outsized mass yields could render them important contributors of light neutron-rich nuclei compared to more common slowly rotating PNS birth. Our calculations pave the way to including the combined effects of rotation and a dynamically-important large-scale magnetic field on the wind properties within a 3D GRMHD framework.

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arXiv2022

X-ray emission from candidate stellar merger remnant TYC 2597-735-1 and its Blue Ring Nebula

Tight binary or multiple star systems can interact through mass transfer and follow vastly different evolutionary pathways than single stars. The star TYC 2597-735-1 is a candidate for a recent stellar merger remnant resulting from a coalescence of a low-mass companion with a primary star a few thousand years ago. This violent event is evident in a conical outflow ("Blue Ring Nebula") emitting in UV light and surrounded by leading shock filaments observed in H$α$ and UV emission. From Chandra data, we report the detection of X-ray emission from the location of TYC 2597-735-1 with a luminosity $\log(L_\mathrm{X}/L_\mathrm{bol})=-5.5$. Together with a previously reported period around 14~days, this indicates ongoing stellar activity and the presence of strong magnetic fields on TYC 2597-735-1. Supported by stellar evolution models of merger remnants, we interpret the inferred stellar magnetic field as dynamo action associated with a newly formed convection zone in the atmosphere of TYC 2597-735-1, though internal shocks at the base of an accretion-powered jet cannot be ruled out. We speculate that this object will evolve into an FK Com type source, i.e. a class of rapidly spinning magnetically active stars for which a merger origin has been proposed but for which no relic accretion or large-scale nebula remains visible. We also detect likely X-ray emission from two small regions close to the outer shock fronts in the Blue Ring Nebula, which may arise from either inhomogenities in the circumstellar medium or in the mass and velocity distribution in the merger-driven outflow.

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arXiv2021

Evidence for a Compact Object in the Aftermath of the Extra-Galactic Transient AT2018cow

The brightest Fast Blue Optical Transients (FBOTs) are mysterious extragalactic explosions that may represent a new class of astrophysical phenomena. Their fast time to maximum brightness of less than a week and decline over several months and atypical optical spectra and evolution are difficult to explain within the context of core-collapse of massive stars which are powered by radioactive decay of Nickel-56 and evolve more slowly. AT2018cow (at redshift of 0.014) is an extreme FBOT in terms of rapid evolution and high luminosities. Here we present evidence for a high-amplitude quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) of AT2018cow's soft X-rays with a frequency of 224 Hz (at 3.7$σ$ significance level or false alarm probability of 0.02%) and fractional root-mean-squared amplitude of >30%. This signal is found in the average power density spectrum taken over the entire 60-day outburst and suggests a highly persistent signal that lasts for a billion cycles. The high frequency (rapid timescale) of 224 Hz (4.4 ms) argues for a compact object in AT2018cow, which can be a neutron star or black hole with a mass less than 850 solar masses. If the QPO is the spin period of a neutron star, we can set limits on the star's magnetic field strength. Our work highlights a new way of using high time-resolution X-ray observations to study FBOTs.

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arXiv2021

Transients from the Cataclysmic Deaths of Cataclysmic Variables

We explore the observational appearance of the merger of a low-mass star with a white dwarf (WD) binary companion. We are motivated by Schreiber et al. (2016), who found that multiple tensions between the observed properties of cataclysmic variables (CVs) and standard evolution models are resolved if a large fraction of CV binaries merge as a result of unstable mass transfer. Tidal disruption of the secondary forms a geometrically thick disk around the WD, which subsequently accretes at highly super-Eddington rates. Analytic estimates and numerical hydrodynamical simulations reveal that outflows from the accretion flow unbind a large fraction >~ 90% of the secondary at velocities ~500-1000 km/s within days of the merger. Hydrogen recombination in the expanding ejecta powers optical transient emission lasting about a month with a luminosity > 1e38 erg/s, similar to slow classical novae and luminous red novae from ordinary stellar mergers. Over longer timescales the mass accreted by the WD undergoes hydrogen shell burning, inflating the remnant into a giant of luminosity ~300-5000 L_sun, effective temperature T_eff ~ 3000 K and lifetime ~1e4-1e5 yr. We predict that ~1e3-1e4 Milky Way giants are CV merger products, potentially distinguishable by atypical surface abundances. We explore whether any Galactic historical slow classical novae are masquerading CV mergers by identifying four such post-nova systems with potential giant counterparts for which a CV merger origin cannot be ruled out. We address whether the historical transient CK Vul and its gaseous/dusty nebula resulted from a CV merger.

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arXiv2021

Pre-explosion spiral mass loss of a binary star merger

Binary stars commonly pass through phases of direct interaction which result in the rapid loss of mass, energy, and angular momentum. Though crucial to understanding the fates of these systems, including their potential as gravitational wave sources, this short-lived phase is poorly understood and has thus far been unambiguously observed in only a single event, V1309 Sco. Here we show that the complex and previously-unexplained photometric behavior of V1309 Sco prior to its main outburst results naturally from the runaway loss of mass and angular momentum from the outer Lagrange point, which lasts for thousands of orbits prior to the final dynamical coalescence, much longer than predicted by contemporary models. This process enshrouds the binary in a "death spiral" outflow, which affects the amplitude and phase modulation of its light curve, and contributes to driving the system together. The total amount of mass lost during this gradual phase ($\sim 0.05 M_\odot$) rivals the mass lost during the subsequent dynamical interaction phase, which has been the main focus of "common envelope" modeling so far. Analogous features in related transients suggest that this behavior is ubiquitous.

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arXiv2021

"Super-Kilonovae" from Massive Collapsars as Signatures of Black-Hole Birth in the Pair-instability Mass Gap

The core collapse of rapidly rotating massive ~10 Msun stars ("collapsars"), and resulting formation of hyper-accreting black holes, are a leading model for the central engines of long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRB) and promising sources of r-process nucleosynthesis. Here, we explore the signatures of collapsars from progenitors with extremely massive helium cores >130 Msun above the pair-instability mass gap. While rapid collapse to a black hole likely precludes a prompt explosion in these systems, we demonstrate that disk outflows can generate a large quantity (up to >50 Msun) of ejecta, comprised of >5-10 Msun in r-process elements and ~0.1-1 Msun of $^{56}$Ni, expanding at velocities ~0.1c. Radioactive heating of the disk-wind ejecta powers an optical/infrared transient, with a characteristic luminosity $\sim 10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$ and spectral peak in the near-infrared (due to the high optical/UV opacities of lanthanide elements) similar to kilonovae from neutron star mergers, but with longer durations $\gtrsim$ 1 month. These "super-kilonovae" (superKNe) herald the birth of massive black holes >60 Msun, which, as a result of disk wind mass-loss, can populate the pair-instability mass gap 'from above' and could potentially create the binary components of GW190521. SuperKNe could be discovered via wide-field surveys such as those planned with the Roman Space Telescope or via late-time infrared follow-up observations of extremely energetic GRBs. Gravitational waves of frequency ~0.1-50 Hz from non-axisymmetric instabilities in self-gravitating massive collapsar disks are potentially detectable by proposed third-generation intermediate and high-frequency observatories at distances up to hundreds of Mpc; in contrast to the "chirp" from binary mergers, the collapsar gravitational-wave signal decreases in frequency as the disk radius grows ("sad trombone").

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arXiv2021

A Toy Model for the Time-Frequency Structure of Fast Radio Bursts: Implications for the CHIME Burst Dichotomy

We introduce a toy model for the time-frequency structure of fast radio bursts (FRB), in which the observed emission is produced as a narrowly-peaked intrinsic spectral energy distribution sweeps down in frequency across the instrumental bandpass as a power-law in time. Though originally motivated by emission models which invoke a relativistic shock, the model could in principle apply to a wider range of emission scenarios. We quantify the burst's detectability using the frequency bandwidth over which most of its signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is accumulated. We demonstrate that by varying just a single parameter of the toy model-the power-law index βof the frequency drift rate-one can transform a long (and hence preferentially time-resolved) burst with a narrow time-integrated spectrum into a shorter burst with a broad power-law time-integrated spectrum. We suggest that burst-to-burst diversity in the value of βcould generate the dichotomy between burst duration and frequency-width recently found by CHIME. In shock models, the value of βis related to the radial density profile of external medium, which in light of the preferentially longer duration of bursts from repeating sources may point to diversity in the external environments surrounding repeating versus one-off FRB sources.

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arXiv2021

Radio and X-ray observations of the luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient AT2020xnd

We present deep X-ray and radio observations of the Fast Blue Optical Transient (FBOT) AT2020xnd/ZTF20acigmel at $z=0.2433$ from $13$d to $269$d after explosion. AT2020xnd belongs to the category of optically luminous FBOTs with similarities to the archetypal event AT2018cow. AT2020xnd shows luminous radio emission reaching $L_ν\approx8\times10^{29}$ergs$^{-1}$Hz$^{-1}$ at 20GHz and $75$d post explosion, accompanied by luminous and rapidly fading soft X-ray emission peaking at $L_{X}\approx6\times10^{42}$ergs$^{-1}$. Interpreting the radio emission in the context of synchrotron radiation from the explosion's shock interaction with the environment we find that AT2020xnd launched a high-velocity outflow ($v\sim$0.1-0.2$c$) propagating into a dense circumstellar medium (effective $\dot M\approx10^{-3}M_{\rm{sol}}$yr$^{-1}$ for an assumed wind velocity of $v_w=1000$kms$^{-1}$). Similar to AT2018cow, the detected X-ray emission is in excess compared to the extrapolated synchrotron spectrum and constitutes a different emission component, possibly powered by accretion onto a newly formed black hole or neutron star. These properties make AT2020xnd a high-redshift analog to AT2018cow, and establish AT2020xnd as the fourth member of the class of optically-luminous FBOTs with luminous multi-wavelength counterparts.

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arXiv2021

Interacting Stellar EMRIs as Sources of Quasi-Periodic Eruptions in Galactic Nuclei

A star that approaches a supermassive black hole (SMBH) on a circular extreme mass ratio inspiral (EMRI) can undergo Roche lobe overflow (RLOF), resulting in a phase of long-lived mass-transfer onto the SMBH. If the interval separating consecutive EMRIs is less than the mass-transfer timescale driven by gravitational wave emission (typically ~1-10 Myr), the semi-major axes of the two stars will approach each another on scales of <~ hundreds to thousands of gravitational radii. Close flybys tidally strip gas from one or both RLOFing stars, briefly enhancing the mass-transfer rate onto the SMBH and giving rise to a flare of transient X-ray emission. If both stars reside in an common orbital plane, these close interactions will repeat on a timescale as short as hours, generating a periodic series of flares with properties (amplitudes, timescales, sources lifetimes) remarkably similar to the "quasi-periodic eruptions" (QPEs) recently observed from galactic nuclei hosting low-mass SMBHs. A cessation of QPE activity is predicted on a timescale of months to years, due to nodal precession of the EMRI orbits out of alignment by the SMBH spin. Channels for generating the requisite coplanar EMRIs include the tidal separation of binaries (Hills mechanism) or Type I inwards migration through a gaseous AGN disk. Alternative scenarios for QPEs, that invoke single stellar EMRIs on an eccentric orbit undergoing a runaway sequence of RLOF events, are strongly disfavored by formation rate constraints.

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arXiv2021

Resolving the fastest ejecta from binary Neutron Star mergers: implications for electromagnetic counterparts

We examine the effect of spatial resolution on initial mass ejection in grid-based hydrodynamic simulations of binary neutron star mergers. The subset of the dynamical ejecta with velocities greater than $\sim 0.6$c can generate an ultraviolet precursor to the kilonova on $\sim$hr timescales and contribute to a years-long non-thermal afterglow. Previous work has found differing amounts of this fast ejecta, by one- to two orders of magnitude, when using particle-based or grid-based hydrodynamic methods. Here we carry out a numerical experiment that models the merger as an axisymmetric collision in a co-rotating frame, accounting for Newtonian self-gravity, inertial forces, and gravitational wave losses. The lower computational cost allows us to reach spatial resolutions as high as $4$m, or $\sim 3\times 10^{-4}$ of the stellar radius. We find that fast ejecta production converges to within $10\%$ for a cell size of $20$m. This suggests that fast ejecta quantities found in existing grid-based merger simulations are unlikely to increase to the level needed to match particle-based results upon further resolution increases. The resulting neutron-powered precursors are in principle detectable out to distances $\lesssim 200$Mpc with upcoming facilities. We also find that head-on collisions at the free-fall speed, relevant for eccentric mergers, yield fast and slow ejecta quantities of order $10^{-2}M_\odot$, with a kilonova signature distinct from that of quasi-circular mergers.

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arXiv2021

Classical Novae at Radio Wavelengths

We present radio observations (1--40 GHz) for 36 classical novae, representing data from over five decades compiled from the literature, telescope archives, and our own programs. Our targets display a striking diversity in their optical parameters (e.g., spanning optical fading timescales, t_2 = 1--263 days), and we find a similar diversity in the radio light curves. Using a brightness temperature analysis, we find that radio emission from novae is a mixture of thermal and synchrotron emission, with non-thermal emission observed at earlier times. We identify high brightness temperature emission (T_B > 5x10^4 K) as an indication of synchrotron emission in at least 9 (25%) of the novae. We find a class of synchrotron-dominated novae with mildly evolved companions, exemplified by V5589 Sgr and V392 Per, that appear to be a bridge between classical novae with dwarf companions and symbiotic binaries with giant companions. Four of the novae in our sample have two distinct radio maxima (the first dominated by synchrotron and the later by thermal emission), and in four cases the early synchrotron peak is temporally coincident with a dramatic dip in the optical light curve, hinting at a common site for particle acceleration and dust formation. We publish the light curves as tables and encourage use of these data by the broader community in multi-wavelength studies and modeling efforts.

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arXiv2021

From Neutrino- to Photon-Cooled in Three Years: Can Fallback Accretion Explain the X-ray Excess in GW170817?

An excess in the X-ray emission from the neutron star merger GW170817 above the predicted afterglow was recently detected t~3.4 years post-merger. One possible origin for the excess is accretion onto the newly unshrouded black hole (BH) remnant. While fall-back of the bound dynamical ejecta is insufficient to generate the excess luminosity, L_X ~ 5e38 erg/s, fall-back from the disk wind ejecta-due to their larger mass and lower velocity-remains a viable possibility. We present hydrodynamic alpha-viscosity simulations of the post-merger disk evolution which extend to an unprecedently long timescale t ~ 35 s post-merger, as necessary to capture the end of photodissociation and the asymptotic evolution into the radiatively inefficient regime. Due to inefficient neutrino cooling, the BH accretion rate decays rapidly at late times (Mdot_BH ~ t^(-β_BH), where β_BH ~ 2.4-2.8), seemingly incompatible with generating the late-time excess. However, the rate at which matter falls back to the inner disk from the equatorial regions (as inferred by the rate matter is unbound in outflows by viscous heating at higher latitudes) decays more gradually, Mdot_fb ~ t^(-β_fb) with β_fb ~ 1.43 in our alpha ~ 0.03 simulations. By the present epoch, the fall-back rate has become sub-Eddington and the disk can again accrete efficiently, i.e. Mdot_BH ~ Mdot_fb, this time as a result of photon cooling instead of neutrino cooling. The predicted X-ray accretion luminosity at the present epoch is L_X ~ 0.1 Mdot_BH c^2 ~ (2-70)e38 erg/s for beta_FB ~ 1.43-1.66, thus supporting (with caveats) an accretion-powered origin for the X-ray excess in GW170817. The suppressed BH accretion rate prior to the radiatively efficient (sub-Eddington) transition, weeks to months after the merger, is key to avoid overproducing the kilonova luminosity via reprocessing.

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arXiv2021

Periodic Fast Radio Bursts from Luminous X-ray Binaries

The discovery of periodicity in the arrival times of the fast radio bursts (FRBs) poses a challenge to the oft-studied magnetar scenarios. However, models that postulate that FRBs result from magnetized shocks or magnetic reconnection in a relativistic outflow are not specific to magnetar engines; instead, they require only the impulsive injection of relativistic energy into a dense magnetized medium. Motivated thus, we outline a new scenario in which FRBs are powered by short-lived relativistic outflows (``flares'') from accreting black holes or neutron stars, which propagate into the cavity of the pre-existing (``quiescent'') jet. In order to reproduce FRB luminosities and rates, we are driven to consider binaries of stellar-mass compact objects undergoing super-Eddington mass-transfer, similar to ultraluminous X-ray (ULX) sources. Indeed, the host galaxies of FRBs, and their spatial offsets within their hosts, show broad similarities with ULXs. Periodicity on timescales of days to years could be attributed to precession (e.g., Lens-Thirring) of the polar accretion funnel, along which the FRB emission is geometrically and relativistically beamed, which sweeps across the observer line of sight. Accounting for the most luminous FRBs via accretion power may require a population of binaries undergoing brief-lived phases of unstable (dynamical-timescale) mass-transfer. This will lead to secular evolution in the properties of some repeating FRBs on timescales of months to years, followed by a transient optical/IR counterpart akin to a luminous red nova, or a more luminous accretion-powered optical/X-ray transient. We encourage targeted FRB searches of known ULX sources.

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arXiv2021

The Gravity Collective: A Search for the Electromagnetic Counterpart to the Neutron Star-Black Hole Merger GW190814

We present optical follow-up imaging obtained with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Nickel Telescope, Swope Telescope, and Thacher Telescope of the LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave (GW) signal from the neutron star-black hole (NSBH) merger GW190814. We searched the GW190814 localization region (19 deg$^{2}$ for the 90th percentile best localization), covering a total of 51 deg$^{2}$ and 94.6% of the two-dimensional localization region. Analyzing the properties of 189 transients that we consider as candidate counterparts to the NSBH merger, including their localizations, discovery times from merger, optical spectra, likely host-galaxy redshifts, and photometric evolution, we conclude that none of these objects are likely to be associated with GW190814. Based on this finding, we consider the likely optical properties of an electromagnetic counterpart to GW190814, including possible kilonovae and short gamma-ray burst afterglows. Using the joint limits from our follow-up imaging, we conclude that a counterpart with an $r$-band decline rate of 0.68 mag day$^{-1}$, similar to the kilonova AT 2017gfo, could peak at an absolute magnitude of at most $-17.8$ mag (50% confidence). Our data are not constraining for ''red'' kilonovae and rule out ''blue'' kilonovae with $M>0.5 M_{\odot}$ (30% confidence). We strongly rule out all known types of short gamma-ray burst afterglows with viewing angles $<$17$^{\circ}$ assuming an initial jet opening angle of $\sim$$5.2^{\circ}$ and explosion energies and circumburst densities similar to afterglows explored in the literature. Finally, we explore the possibility that GW190814 merged in the disk of an active galactic nucleus, of which we find four in the localization region, but we do not find any candidate counterparts among these sources.

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arXiv2021

Multi-messenger Bayesian parameter inference of a binary neutron-star merger

The combined detection of a binary neutron-star merger in both gravitational waves (GWs) and electromagnetic (EM) radiation spanning the entire spectrum -- GW170817 / AT2017gfo / GRB170817A -- marks a breakthrough in the field of multi-messenger astronomy. Between the plethora of modeling and observations, the rich synergy that exists among the available data sets creates a unique opportunity to constrain the binary parameters, the equation of state of supranuclear density matter, and the physical processes at work during the kilonova and gamma-ray burst. We report, for the first time, Bayesian parameter estimation combining information from GW170817, AT2017gfo, GRB170817 to obtain truly multi-messenger constraints on the tidal deformability $\tildeΛ \in [302,860]$, total binary mass $M \in [2.722,2.751] M_\odot$, the radius of a $1.4$ solar mass neutron star $R \in [11.3,13.5] \rm km$ (with additional $0.2\ \rm km$ systematic uncertainty), and an upper bound on the mass ratio of $q \leq 1.27$, all at 90% confidence. Our joint novel analysis makes use of new phenomenological descriptions of the dynamical ejecta, debris disk mass, and remnant black hole properties, all derived from a large suite of numerical relativity simulations.

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arXiv2021

Shock-powered radio precursors of neutron star mergers from accelerating relativistic binary winds

During the final stages of a compact object merger, if at least one of the binary components is a magnetized neutron star (NS), then its orbital motion substantially expands the NS's open magnetic flux -- and hence increases its wind luminosity -- relative to that of an isolated pulsar. As the binary orbit shrinks due to gravitational radiation, the power and speed of this binary-induced inspiral wind may (depending on pair loading) secularly increase, leading to self-interaction and internal shocks in the outflow beyond the binary orbit. The magnetized forward shock can generate coherent radio emission via the synchrotron maser process, resulting in an observable radio precursor to binary NS merger. We perform 1D relativistic hydrodynamical simulations of shock interaction in the accelerating binary NS wind, assuming that the inspiral wind efficiently converts its Poynting flux into bulk kinetic energy prior to the shock radius. This is combined with the shock maser spectrum from particle-in-cell simulations, to generate synthetic radio light curves. The precursor burst with a fluence of $\sim1$ Jy$\cdot$ms at $\sim$GHz frequencies lasts $\sim 1-500$ ms following the merger for a source at $\sim3$ Gpc ($B_{\rm d}/10^{12}$ G)$^{8/9}$, where $B_{\rm d}$ is the dipole field strength of the more strongly-magnetized star. Given an outflow geometry concentrated along the binary equatorial, the signal may be preferentially observable for high-inclination systems, i.e. those least likely to produce a detectable gamma-ray burst.

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arXiv2021

Gamma-ray Thermalization and Leakage from Millisecond Magnetar Nebulae: Towards a Self-Consistent Model for Superluminous Supernovae

Superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) are massive star explosions too luminous to be powered by traditional energy sources, such as radioactive 56Ni. These transients may instead be powered by a central engine, such as a millisecond pulsar or magnetar, whose relativistic wind inflates a nebula of high energy particles and radiation behind the expanding ejecta. We present 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer calculations which follow the production and thermalization of high energy radiation from the nebula into optical radiation and, conversely, determine the gamma-ray emission that escapes the ejecta without thermalizing. We track the evolution of photons and matter in a coupled two-zone ("wind/nebula" and "ejecta") model, accounting for the range of radiative processes. We identify a novel mechanism by which gamma-gamma pair creation in the upstream pulsar wind regulates the mean energy of particles entering the nebula over the first several years after the explosion, rendering our results on this timescale insensitive to the (uncertain) intrinsic wind pair multiplicity. To explain the observed late-time steepening of SLSNe optical light curves as being the result of gamma-ray leakage, the nebular magnetization must be very low, epsB <~ 1e-6-1e-4. For higher epsB, synchrotron emission quickly comes to dominate the thermalized nebula radiation, and being readily absorbed because of its lower photon energies, results in the SN optical light curve tracking the spin-down power even to late times >~ 1 yr, inconsistent with observations. For magnetars to remain viable contenders for powering SLSNe, we conclude that either magnetic dissipation in the wind/nebula is extremely efficient, or that the spin-down luminosity decays significantly faster than the canonical dipole rate ~1/t^2 in a way that coincidentally mimicks gamma-ray escape.

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