Related papers: A helium-burning white dwarf binary as a supersoft…
Supersoft X-ray sources (SSS) have been identified as white dwarfs accreting from binary companions and undergoing nuclear-burning of the accreted material on their surface. Although expected to be a relatively numerous population from both…
Some accreting binary systems containing a white dwarf (such as classical novae or persistent supersoft sources) are seen to emit low-energy X-rays with temperatures of ~10^6 K and luminosities exceeding 10^35 erg/s. These X-rays are…
Type Ia supernovae are thought to be thermonuclear explosions of accreting white dwarfs that reach a critical mass limit. Despite their importance as cosmological distance indicators, the nature of their progenitors has remained…
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…
Steadily accreting white dwarfs (WDs) are efficient sources of ionization and thus, are able to create extended ionized nebulae in their vicinity. These nebulae represent ideal tools for the detection of accreting WDs, given that in most…
We present new Chandra X-ray observations and detailed astrometry of the field of the type Ia supernova 2007on, for which the detection of a likely progenitor in archival Chandra data was recently reported. No source is detected in the new…
There are insufficient super soft (~ 0.1 keV) X-ray sources in either spiral or elliptical galaxies to account for the rate of explosion of Type Ia supernovae in either the single degenerate or the double degenerate scenarios. We quantify…
Type Ia supernovae are understood to arise from the thermonuclear explosion of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf, yet the evolutionary mechanisms leading to such events remain unknown. Many proposed channels, including the classical…
A thermonuclear explosion triggered by a helium-shell detonation on a carbon-oxygen white dwarf core has been predicted to have strong UV line blanketing at early times due to the iron-group elements produced during helium-shell burning. We…
Type Ia supernovae have proven vital to our understanding of cosmology, both as standard candles and for their role in galactic chemical evolution; however, their origin remains uncertain. The canonical accretion model implies a hot and…
We obtained an optical spectrum of a star we identify as the optical counterpart of the M31 Chandra source CXO J004318.8+412016, because of prominent emission lines of the Balmer series, of neutral helium, and a He II line at 4686 Angstrom.…
In binary systems, the helium accretion onto carbon-oxygen (CO) white dwarfs (WDs) plays a vital role in many astrophysical scenarios, especially in supernovae type Ia. Moreover, ignition density for accretion rate $\dot{M} \lesssim 10^{-9}…
We have been proposing two evolutionary paths to Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), which are called the supersoft X-ray source (SSS) channel and the symbiotic channel, depending on the orbital separation just prior to an SN Ia explosion. The…
Can a white dwarf, accreting hydrogen-rich matter from a non-degenerate companion star, ever exceed the Chandrasekhar mass and explode as a type Ia supernova? We explore the range of accretion rates that allow a white dwarf (WD) to…
Accreting white dwarfs (WDs) with non-degenerate companions are expected to emit in soft X-rays and the UV, if accreted H-rich material burns stably. They are an important component of the unresolved emission of elliptical galaxies, and…
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) arise from the thermonuclear explosion of carbon-oxygen white dwarfs. Though the uniformity of their light curves makes them powerful cosmological distance indicators, long-standing issues remain regarding their…
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have been an important tool for astronomy for quite some time; however, the nature of their progenitors remains somewhat mysterious. Recent theoretical studies indicated the possibility of producing thermonuclear…
Classical novae occur on the surface of an accreting white dwarf in a binary system. After ejection of a fraction of the envelope and when the expanding shell becomes optically thin to X-rays, a bright source of supersoft X-rays arises,…
We present a brief summary of the Single Degenerate Scenario for the progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae in which it is assumed that a low mass carbon-oxygen white dwarf is growing in mass as a result of accretion from a secondary star in a…
Using the population synthesis binary evolution code StarTrack, we present theoretical rates and delay times of Type Ia supernovae arising from various formation channels. These channels include binaries in which the exploding white dwarf…