SN1998bw is the most luminous radio supernova ever observed. Previous discussions argued that its exceptional radio luminosity, 4e38 erg/s, must originate from a highly relativistic shock which is fully decoupled from the supernova ejecta. Here we present an alternative model in which the radio emission originates from a sub-relativistic shock with a velocity of 0.3c, generated in the surrounding gas by the expanding ejecta. In this model, thermal electrons heated by the shock to a relativistic temperature of 60 MeV emit synchrotron self-absorbed radiation in the post-shock magnetic field. This model provides an excellent fit to the observed spectra provided that the thermal electrons are in equipartition with the ions behind the shock. The required magnetic field is much weaker than its equipartition value and could have been carried out by the progenitor's wind prior to the supernova explosion. According to this model, the radio emission from SN1998bw is unrelated to the highly relativistic blast wave that produced the gamma-ray burst GRB980425.
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