The metamorphosis of SN 1998bw

We present and discuss the photometric and spectroscopic evolution of the peculiar SN 1998bw, associated with GRB 980425, through an analysis of optical and near-IR data collected at ESO-La Silla. The spectroscopic data, spanning the period from day -9 to day +376 (relative to B maximum), have shown that this supernova (SN) was unprecedented, although somewhat similar to SN 1997ef. Maximum expansion velocities as high as 3x10(4) km s(-1) to some extent mask its resemblance to other Type Ic SNe. At intermediate phases, between photospheric and fully nebular, the expansion velocities (similar to 10(4) km s(-1)) remained exceptionally high compared to those of other recorded core-collapse SNe at a similar phase. The mild linear polarization detected at early epochs suggests the presence of asymmetry in the emitting material. The degree of asymmetry, however, cannot be decoded from these measurements alone. The He I 1.083 and 2.058 mum lines are identified, and He is suggested to lie in an outer region of the envelope. The temporal behavior of the fluxes and profiles of emission lines of Mg I] lambda 4571, [O I] lambda lambda 6300, 6364, and a feature ascribed to Fe are traced to stimulate future modeling work. The uniqueness of SN 1998bw became less obvious once it entered the fully nebular phase (after 1 yr), when it was very similar to other Type Ib/c-IIb objects, such as the Type Ib SN 1996N and the Type IIb SN 1993J, even though SN 1998bw was 1.4 mag brighter than SN 1993J and 3 mag brighter than SN 1996N at a comparable phase. The late-phase optical photometry, which extends up to 403 days after B maximum, shows that the SN luminosity declined exponentially but substantially faster than the decay rate of Co-56. The ultraviolet-optical-infrared bolometric light curve, constructed using all available optical data and the early JHK photometry presented in this work, shows a slight flattening starting on about day +300. Since no clear evidence of ejecta-wind interaction was found in the late-time spectroscopy (see also the work of Sollerman and coworkers), this may be due to the contribution of the positrons since most gamma -rays escape thermalization at this phase. A contribution from the superposed H II region cannot, however, be excluded.