Related papers: Merging White Dwarfs and Thermonuclear Supernovae
This document presents a numerical study of the effects of high density nuclear reactions, pycnonuclear reactions, on the evolution of white dwarfs that accrete matter from a companion star. Primarily we seek observable properties that…
The observed sub-class of "superluminous" Type Ia supernovae lacks a convincing theoretical explanation. If the emission of such objects were powered exclusively by radioactive decay of 56Ni formed in the explosion, a progenitor mass close…
Many double white dwarf (WD) mergers likely do not lead to a prompt thermonuclear explosion. We investigate the prospects for observationally detecting the surviving remnants of such mergers, focusing on the case of mergers of double…
Nova explosions are caused by global thermonuclear runaways triggered in the surface layers of accreting white dwarfs. It has been predicted that localised thermonuclear bursts on white dwarfs can also take place, similar to Type I X-ray…
White dwarfs (WDs) are believed to detonate via explosive Carbon-fusion in a Type Ia Supernova when their temperature and/or density reach the point where Carbon is ignited in a runaway reaction. Observations of the Type Ia supernova (SN)…
The creation of "hybrid" white dwarfs, made of a C-O core within a O-Ne shell has been proposed, and studies indicate that ignition in the C-rich central region makes these viable progenitors for thermonuclear (type Ia) supernovae. Recent…
Despite their unique astrophysical relevance, the outcome of white dwarf binary mergers has so far only been studied for a very restricted number of systems. Here we present the results of a survey with more than two hundred simulations…
Interacting double white dwarf binaries can give rise to a wide variety of astrophysical outcomes ranging from faint thermonuclear and Type Ia supernovae to the formation of neutron stars and stably accreting AM Canum Venaticorum systems.…
Symbiotic binaries are systems containing white dwarfs (WDs) and red giants. Symbiotic novae are those systems in which thermonuclear eruptions occur on the WD components. These are to be distinguished from events driven by accretion disk…
Among the major uncertainties involved in the Chandrasekhar mass models for Type Ia supernovae are the companion star of the accreting white dwarf (or the accretion rate that determines the carbon ignition density) and the flame speed after…
Stellar evolution models predict the existence of hybrid white dwarfs (WDs) with a carbon-oxygen core surrounded by an oxygen-neon mantle. Being born with masses ~1.1 Msun, hybrid WDs in a binary system may easily approach the Chandrasekhar…
Binary systems composed of two carbon-oxygen white dwarfs (WDs) are a leading progenitor candidate for Type Ia supernovae. One widely discussed scenario is the dynamically driven double-degenerate double-detonation (D$^6$) of a…
Large-scale three-dimensional numerical simulations of the deflagration stage of a thermonuclear supernova explosion show the formation and evolution of a highly convoluted turbulent flame in a gravitational field of an expanding…
We study stellar binary evolution that leads to the formation of a white dwarf (WD) that explodes in a thermonuclear supernova at the termination of a common envelope evolution (CEE) shortly before the core of its companion explodes as a…
Type Ia supernovae are associated with thermonuclear explosions of white dwarf stars. Combustion processes convert material in nuclear reactions and release the energy required to explode the stars. At the same time, they produce the…
Recent astrophysics observation reveals the existence of some super luminous type Ia supernovae. One natural explanation of such a peculiar phenomenon is to require the progenitor of such a supernova to be a highly super-Chandrasekhar mass…
Type Ia supernovae result when carbon-oxygen white dwarfs in binary systems accrete mass from companion stars, reach a critical mass, and explode. The near uniformity of their light curves makes these supernovae good standard candles for…
The recent prediction and discovery of hypervelocity supernova survivors has provided strong evidence that the "dynamically driven double-degenerate double-detonation" (D6) Type Ia supernova scenario occurs in Nature. In this model, the…
Thermonuclear supernovae are the result of the violent unbinding of a white dwarf, but the precise nature of the explosion mechanism(s) is a matter of active debate. To this end, several specific scenarios have been proposed to explain the…
We have investigated the origin of a sub-class of carbon-polluted white dwarfs (DQ) originally identified as the ``hot DQ" white dwarfs. These objects are relatively hot (10 000 < T_eff < 25 000 K), have markedly higher carbon abundance…