The Ultraviolet Brightest Type Ia Supernova 2011de

We present and discuss the ultraviolet (UV)/optical photometric light curves and absolute magnitudes of the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2011de from the Swift Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope. We find it to be the UV brightest SN Ia yet observed—more than a factor of 10 brighter than normal SNe Ia in the mid-ultraviolet. We find that the UV/optical brightness and broad light curve evolution can be modeled with additional flux from the shock of the ejecta hitting a relatively large red giant companion separated by 6 × 10¹³ cm. However, the post-maximum behavior of other UV-bright SNe Ia can also be modeled in a similar manner, including objects with UV spectroscopy or pre-maximum photometry which is inconsistent with this model. This suggests that similar UV luminosities can be intrinsic or caused by other forms of shock interaction. The high velocities reported for SN 2011de make it distinct from the UV-bright "super-Chandrasekhar" SNe Ia and the NUV-blue group of normal SNe Ia. SN 2011de is an extreme example of the UV variations in SNe Ia.