Related papers: Phases of a Type Ia supernova explosion
Theoretical and observational approaches to settling the important questions surrounding the progenitor systems and the explosion mechanism of normal Type Ia supernovae have thus far failed. With its unique capability to obtain continuous…
The influence of the initial composition and structure of the exploding white dwarf on the nucleosynthesis and structure of Type Ia Supernovae has been studied. The progenitor structures are based on detailed stellar evolutionary tracks for…
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…
The evolutionary path of rotating CO WDs directly accreting CO-rich matter is followed up to few seconds before the explosive breakout in the framework of the Double Degenerate rotationally-driven accretion scenario. We find that the…
We present the results of three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of the subsonic thermonuclear burning phase in type Ia supernovae. The burning front model contains no adjustable parameters so that variations of the explosion outcome…
Observations of SN 2011fe at early times reveal an evolution analogous to a fireball model of constant color. In contrast, our unmixed delayed detonations of Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs (DDC series) exhibit a faster brightening…
Calculations of synthetic spectropolarimetry are one means to test multi-dimensional explosion models for Type Ia supernovae. In a recent paper, we demonstrated that the violent merger of a 1.1 and 0.9 M$_{\odot}$ white dwarf binary system…
The details of ignition of Type Ia supernovae remain fuzzy, despite the importance of this input for any large-scale model of the final explosion. Here, we begin a process of understanding the ignition of these hotspots by examining the…
The propagation of cellularly stabilized thermonuclear flames is investigated by means of numerical simulations. In Type Ia supernova explosions the corresponding burning regime establishes at scales below the Gibson length. The cellular…
We study the spinning down time scale of rapidly rotating white dwarfs (WDs) in the frame of the core-degenerate (CD) scenario for type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). In the CD scenario the Chandrasekhar or super-Chandrasekhar mass WD is formed at…
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…
Prior to the explosive burning of a white dwarf (WD) that makes a Type Ia supernova (SN Ia), the star "simmers" for ~10^3 yrs in a convecting, carbon burning region. I estimate the excitation of g-modes by convection during this phase and…
Binary stellar evolution calculations predict that Chandrasekhar-mass carbon/oxygen white dwarfs (WDs) show a radially varying profile for the composition with a carbon depleted core. Many recent multi-dimensional simulations of Type Ia…
We refine our previously introduced parameterized model for explosive carbon-oxygen fusion during thermonuclear supernovae (SN Ia) by adding corrections to post-processing of recorded Lagrangian fluid element histories to obtain more…
We calculate explosive nucleosynthesis in Chandrasekhar mass models for Type Ia Supernovae(SNe Ia) to obtain new constraints on the rate of matter accretion onto the progenitor white dwarf and on the ignition density of central carbon…
In a canonical model, the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are accreting, nuclear-burning white dwarfs (NBWDs), which explode when the white dwarf reaches the Chandrasekhar mass, M_C. Such massive NBWDs are hot (kT ~100 eV),…
The explosion energy of thermonuclear (Type Ia) supernovae is derived from the difference in nuclear binding energy liberated in the explosive fusion of light 'fuel' nuclei, predominantly carbon and oxygen, into more tightly bound nuclear…
We show that a flame tracking/capturing scheme originally developed for deflagration fronts can be used to model thermonuclear detonations in multidimensional explosion simulations of type Ia supernovae. After testing the accuracy of the…
The explosion of a white dwarf of mass 1.36 M$_\odot$ has been simulated in three dimensions with the aid of a SPH code. The explosion follows the delayed detonation paradigma. In this case the deflagration-detonation transition is induced…
We study the dynamics of thermonuclear flames propagating in fuel stirred by stochastic forcing. The fuel consists of carbon and oxygen in a state which is encountered in white dwarfs close to the Chandrasekhar limit. The level set method…