Related papers: Carbon Ignition in Type Ia Supernovae: An Analytic…
For carbon-oxygen white dwarfs accreting hydrogen or helium at rates in the range ~1-10 x 10^(-8) Msun/y, a variety of explosive outcomes is possible well before the star reaches the Chandrasekhar mass. These outcomes are surveyed for a…
Observational evidences point to a common explosion mechanism of Type Ia supernovae based on a delayed detonation of a white dwarf. However, all attempts to find a convincing ignition mechanism based on a delayed detonation in a…
Type Ia supernovae, the thermonuclear explosions of white dwarf stars composed of carbon and oxygen, were instrumental as distance indicators in establishing the acceleration of the universe's expansion. However, the physics of the…
The flame born in the deep interior of a white dwarf that becomes a Type Ia supernova is subject to several instabilities. We briefly review these instabilities and the corresponding flame acceleration. We discuss the conditions necessary…
Following unstable ignition of carbon, but prior to explosion, a white dwarf (WD) in a Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) undergoes a simmering phase. During this time, a central convective region grows and encompasses ~1 Msun of the WD over a…
The acceleration of the expansion of the universe, and the need for Dark Energy, were inferred from the observations of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). There is consensus that SNe Ia are thermonuclear explosions that destroy carbon-oxygen…
Doubly-degenerate binary systems consisting of two white dwarfs both composed of carbon and oxygen and close enough that mass is transferred from the less massive to the more massive are possible progenitors of type Ia supernovae. If the…
Type Ia supernovae are the outcome of the explosion of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf in a close binary system. They are thought to be the main contributors to the galactic nucleosynthesis of iron-peak elements, with important contributions to…
Context: Turbulent deflagrations of Chandrasekhar mass White Dwarfs are commonly used to model Type Ia Supernova explosions. In this context, rapid rotation of the progenitor star is plausible but has so far been neglected. Aims: The aim of…
When a Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) progenitor first ignites carbon in its core, it undergoes ${\sim} \,10^{3}-10^{4} \,$yr of convective burning prior to the onset of thermonuclear runaway. This carbon simmering phase is important for setting…
Type Ia supernovae are bright stellar explosions distinguished by standardizable light curves that allow for their use as distance indicators for cosmological studies. Despite their highly successful use in this capacity, the progenitors of…
We present a new way of modeling turbulent thermonuclear deflagration fronts in Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs, consisting of carbon and oxygen, undergoing a type Ia supernova explosion. Our approach is a front capturing/tracking hybrid…
Type Ia supernovae are bright stellar explosions thought to occur when a thermonuclear runaway consumes roughly a solar mass of degenerate stellar material. These events produce and disseminate iron-peak elements, and properties of their…
A Type Ia supernova explosion likely begins as a nuclear runaway near the center of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf. The outward propagating flame is unstable to the Landau-Darrieus, Rayleigh-Taylor, and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, which…
Type Ia supernovae are generally thought to be due to the thermonuclear explosions of carbon-oxygen white dwarfs with masses near the Chandrasekhar mass. This scenario, however, has two long-standing problems. First, the explosions do not…
We investigate whether pure deflagration models of Chandrasekhar-mass carbon-oxygen white dwarf stars can account for one or more subclass of the observed population of Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) explosions. We compute a set of 3D full-star…
Supernova Ia are bright explosive events that can be used to estimate cosmological distances, allowing us to study the expansion of the Universe. They are understood to result from a thermonuclear detonation in a white dwarf that formed…
We propose a model for supernovae Ia explosions based on a phase transition to a supersymmetric state which becomes the active trigger for the deflagration starting the explosion in an isolated sub-Chandrasekhar white dwarf star. With two…
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…
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) play a critical role in astrophysics, yet their origin remains mysterious. A crucial physical mechanism in any SN Ia model is the initiation of the detonation front which ultimately unbinds the white dwarf…