High-density circumstellar interaction in the luminous type IIn SN 2010jl: The first 1100 days

Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observations of the Type IIn supernova (SN) 2010jl are analyzed, including photometry and spectroscopy in the ultraviolet, optical, and near-IR bands, 26-1128 days after first detection. At maximum, the bolometric luminosity was ∼ 3 × 10⁴³ erg s^-1 and even at 850 days exceeds 10⁴² erg s^-1. A near-IR excess, dominating after 400 days, probably originates in dust in the circumstellar medium (CSM). The total radiated energy is ≳ 6.5 × 10⁵⁰ erg, excluding the dust component. The spectral lines can be separated into one broad component that is due to electron scattering and one narrow with expansion velocity ∼ 100 km s^-1 from the CSM. The broad component is initially symmetric around zero velocity but becomes blueshifted after ∼50 days, while remaining symmetric about a shifted centroid velocity. Dust absorption in the ejecta is unlikely to explain the line shifts, and we attribute the shift instead to acceleration by the SN radiation. From the optical lines and the X-ray and dust properties, there is strong evidence for large-scale asymmetries in the CSM. The ultraviolet lines indicate CNO processing in the progenitor, while the optical shows a number of narrow coronal lines excited by the X-rays. The bolometric light curve is consistent with a radiative shock in an r^-2 CSM with a mass-loss rate of M ∼ 0.1 M⊙ yr^-1. The total mass lost is ≳3 M⊙. These properties are consistent with the SN expanding into a CSM characteristic of a luminous blue variable progenitor with a bipolar geometry. The apparent absence of nuclear processing is attributed to a CSM that is still opaque to electron scattering.