Spectroscopy of superluminous supernova host galaxies. A preference of
  hydrogen-poor events for extreme emission line galaxies
  Superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) are very bright explosions that were only
discovered recently and that show a preference for occurring in faint dwarf
galaxies. Understanding why stellar evolution yields different types of stellar
explosions in these environments is fundamental in order to both uncover the
elusive progenitors of SLSNe and to study star formation in dwarf galaxies. In
this paper, we present the first results of our project to study SUperluminous
Supernova Host galaxIES, focusing on the sample for which we have obtained
spectroscopy. We show that SLSNe-I and SLSNe-R (hydrogen-poor) often (~50% in
our sample) occur in a class of galaxies that is known as Extreme Emission Line
Galaxies (EELGs). The probability of this happening by chance is negligible and
we therefore conclude that the extreme environmental conditions and the SLSN
phenomenon are related. In contrast, SLSNe-II (hydrogen-rich) occur in more
massive, more metal-rich galaxies with softer radiation fields. Therefore, if
SLSNe-II constitute a uniform class, their progenitor systems are likely
different from those of H-poor SLSNe. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are, on average,
not found in as extreme environments as H-poor SLSNe. We propose that H-poor
SLSNe result from the very first stars exploding in a starburst, even earlier
than GRBs. This might indicate a bottom-light initial mass function in these
systems. SLSNe present a novel method of selecting candidate EELGs independent
of their luminosity.
