A Panchromatic View of Late-time Shock Power in the Type II Supernova 2023ixf

Abstract We present multiwavelength observations of the Type II supernova (SN II) 2023ixf during its first 2 yr of evolution. We combine ground-based optical/near-infrared spectroscopy with Hubble Space Telescope far- and near-ultraviolet spectroscopy and James Webb Space Telescope near- and mid-infrared photometry and spectroscopy to create spectral energy distributions of SN 2023ixf at +374 and +620 days postexplosion, covering a wavelength range of ∼0.1–30 μ m. The multiband light curve of SN 2023ixf follows a standard radioactive decay decline rate after the plateau until ∼500 days, at which point shock-powered emission from ongoing interaction between the SN ejecta and circumstellar material (CSM) begins to dominate. This evolution is temporally consistent with 0.3–10 keV X-ray detections of SN 2023ixf and broad “boxy” spectral line emission, which we interpret to signal reprocessing of shock luminosity in a cold dense shell located between forward and reverse shocks. Using the expected absorbed radioactive decay power and the detected X-ray luminosity, we quantify the total shock-powered emission at the +374 and +620 day epochs and find that it can be explained by nearly complete thermalization of the reverse shock luminosity as SN 2023ixf interacts with a continuous, “wind-like” CSM with a progenitor mass-loss rate of M ̇ ≈ 1 0 − 4 M ⊙ yr −1 ( v w = 20 ± 5 km s −1 ). Additionally, we construct multiepoch spectral models from the non-LTE radiative transfer code CMFGEN that contain radioactive decay and shock powers as well as dust absorption, scattering, and emission. We find that models with shock powers of L sh = (0.5–1) × 10 40 erg s −1 and ∼(0.5–1) × 10 −3 M ⊙ of silicate dust in the cold dense shell and/or inner SN ejecta can effectively reproduce the global properties of the late-time (>300 days) UV-to-IR spectra of SN 2023ixf.