SN 2025wiu: A Type Ib Supernova with Post-Peak Optical Rebrightening

We present optical photometric and optical/near-infrared spectroscopic observations of SN 2025wiu, a Type Ib supernova (SN) at z = 0.046927. The r-band light curve exhibits an initial maximum of approximately-18.2 mag, followed by a weaker optical rebrightening reaching approximately-17.8 mag at +38 days in the rest frame relative to the first maximum. However, the reconstructed bolometric light curve does not show a distinct second peak, but instead exhibits a reduced decline rate during the corresponding phase. The spectra consistently show Type Ib features without narrow emission components associated with circumstellar material. The late-time bolometric decline rate of 0.054 +/- 0.008 mag/day is faster than expected for complete trapping of 56Co decay. A radioactive-decay model for the first peak requires nickel mass = 0.47 solar masses, above the range typical of SNe Ib. A combined radioactive-decay and circumstellar-interaction model reproduces the full bolometric light curve with nickel mass 0.38 solar masses, ejecta mass 4.7 solar masses, and an effective circumstellar mass of 0.10 solar masses, with the interaction contributing from the first peak onward. The lack of interaction signatures in the spectra favours an aspherical, disk-like circumstellar structure engulfed by the ejecta, in which the interaction energy is thermalized below the ejecta photosphere; the fitted circumstellar parameters are therefore effective values rather than direct measurements of the circumstellar geometry. SN 2025wiu demonstrates that optical rebrightening does not necessarily imply a genuine bolometric secondary maximum and highlights the importance of multi-band observations for identifying the powering mechanisms of double-peaked stripped-envelope supernovae.