Warped spacetime powers flickering light in newborn magnetars
Astrophysicists propose a magnetar+Lense-Thirring model to explain the zigzag, chirped light curves of Type I superluminous supernovae, like SN 2024afav. A newborn magnetar’s rapid spin twists spacetime; a misaligned, shrinking accretion disk precesses and intermittently blocks or redirects radiation, producing regular brightness bumps and a shrinking period. The model fits the observed data, yields a 4.2-millisecond spin and strong magnetic field, and could unify explanations for several such supernovae; future Rubin Observatory discoveries will test it.