Related papers: White Dwarf Bounds on CHAMPs
Several hypervelocity white dwarfs (HVWDs) with space velocities of $\gtrsim 1000\,\mathrm{kms}^{-1}$ have recently been discovered. One possible origin of these stars is the dynamically-driven double-degenerate double-detonation (D6)…
Primordial black holes (PBHs) in the asteroid-mass window are compelling dark matter candidates, made plausible by the existence of black holes and by the variety of mechanisms of their production in the early universe. If a PBH falls into…
The detection of heavy elements at suprasolar abundances in the atmospheres of some accreting white dwarfs in cataclysmic variables, coupled with the high temperatures needed to produce these elements requires explosive thermonuclear…
Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are the missing link between stellar-mass and supermassive black holes, widely believed to reside in at least some dense star clusters, but not yet observed directly. Tidal disruptions of white dwarfs…
We perform calculations of white dwarfs endowed with strong magnetic fields. White dwarfs are the progenitors of supernova Type Ia explosions and they are widely used as candles to show that the Universe is expanding and accelerating.…
Mergers of white dwarfs (WDs) may lead to a variety of transient astrophysical events, SNIa being one possible outcome. Lyutikov & Toonen (2017, 2019) argued that mergers of WDs result, under various parameter regimes, in unusual central…
We examine rare evolutionary routes of binary systems where the initially more massive primary star of ~5.5-8.5Mo, forms a white dwarf (WD), while the secondary star of 4Mo < M_2,0 < M_1,0 accretes mass from the evolved primary and later…
Magnetic accreting white dwarfs in cataclysmic variables have been known to show bursts driven by different physical mechanisms; however, the burst occurrence is much rarer than in their non-magnetic counterparts. DW Cnc is a well-studied…
We present a new mechanism for Type Ia supernova explosions in massive white dwarfs. The proposed scenario follows from relaxing the assumption of symmetry in the model and involves a detonation created in an unconfined environment. The…
A white dwarf (WD) gains substantial angular momentum during the accretion process that grows it toward a Chandrasekhar mass. It is therefore expected to be quickly rotating when it ignites as a Type Ia supernova. The thermal and shearing…
White dwarfs (WDs) in active galactic nucleus (AGNs) discs might migrate to the inner radii of the discs and form restricted three-body systems with two WDs moving around the central supermassive black hole (SMBH) in close orbits. These…
In this paper, we model the observable signatures of tidal disruptions of white dwarf (WD) stars by massive black holes (MBHs) of moderate mass, $\approx 10^3 - 10^5 M_\odot$. When the WD passes deep enough within the MBH's tidal field,…
Since their initial discovery, the origin of isolated white dwarfs (WDs) with magnetic fields in excess of $\sim$1 MG has remained a mystery. Recently, the formation of these high-field magnetic WDs has been observationally linked to strong…
White Dwarfs (WDs) are the final evolutionary product of the vast majority of stars in the Universe. They are electron-degenerate structures characterized by no stable thermonuclear activity, and their evolution is generally described as a…
When a star exhausts its nuclear fuel, it either explodes as a supernova or more quiescently becomes a white dwarf, an object about half the mass of our Sun with a radius of about that of the Earth. About one fifth of white dwarfs exhibit…
We present results from general relativistic calculations of nuclear ignition in white dwarf stars triggered by near encounters with rotating intermediate mass black holes with different spin and alignment parameters. These encounters…
There is solid observational evidence on the existence of massive, $M\sim 1~M_\odot$, highly magnetized white dwarfs (WDs) with surface magnetic fields up to $B\sim 10^9$ G. We show that, if in addition to these features, the star is fast…
We hypothesize that at least some of the recently discovered class of calcium-rich gap transients are tidal detonation events of white dwarfs (WDs) by black holes (BHs) or possibly neutron stars. We show that the properties of the…
We present stellar evolution calculations of the remnant of the merger of two carbon-oxygen white dwarfs (CO WDs). We focus on cases that have a total mass in excess of the Chandrasekhar mass. After the merger, the remnant manifests as an…
The maximum mass of a star that can produce a white dwarf (WD) is an important astrophysical quantity. One of the best approaches to establishing this limit is to search for WDs in young star clusters in which only massive stars have had…