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3D Hydrodynamical Simulations of Helium-ignited Double-degenerate White Dwarf Mergers

Roy, Niranjan C. ; Tiwari, Vishal ; Bobrick, Alexey LU orcid ; Kosakowski, Daniel ; Fisher, Robert ; Perets, Hagai B. ; Kashyap, Rahul ; Lorén-Aguilar, Pablo and García-Berro, Enrique (2022) In Astrophysical Journal Letters 932(2).
Abstract

The origins of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are still debated. Some of the leading scenarios involve a double detonation in double white dwarf (WD) systems. In these scenarios, helium shell detonation occurs on top of a carbon-oxygen (CO) WD, which then drives the detonation of the CO core, producing an SN Ia. Extensive studies have been done on the possibility of a double helium detonation, following a dynamical helium mass-transfer phase onto a CO-WD. However, 3D self-consistent modeling of the double-WD system, the mass transfer, and the helium shell detonation have been little studied. Here we use 3D hydrodynamical simulations to explore this case in which a helium detonation occurs near the point of Roche lobe overflow of the donor... (More)

The origins of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are still debated. Some of the leading scenarios involve a double detonation in double white dwarf (WD) systems. In these scenarios, helium shell detonation occurs on top of a carbon-oxygen (CO) WD, which then drives the detonation of the CO core, producing an SN Ia. Extensive studies have been done on the possibility of a double helium detonation, following a dynamical helium mass-transfer phase onto a CO-WD. However, 3D self-consistent modeling of the double-WD system, the mass transfer, and the helium shell detonation have been little studied. Here we use 3D hydrodynamical simulations to explore this case in which a helium detonation occurs near the point of Roche lobe overflow of the donor WD and may lead to an SN Ia through the dynamically driven double-degenerate double-detonation (D6) mechanism. We find that the helium layer of the accreting primary WD does undergo a detonation, while the underlying CO core does not, leading to an extremely rapid and faint nova-like transient instead of a luminous SN Ia event. This failed core detonation suggests that D6 SNe Ia may be restricted to the most massive CO primary WDs. We highlight the nucleosynthesis of the long-lived radioisotope 44Ti during explosive helium burning, which may serve as a hallmark both of successful as well as failed D6 events, which subsequently detonate as classical double-degenerate mergers.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Astrophysical Journal Letters
volume
932
issue
2
article number
L24
publisher
IOP Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:85134172751
ISSN
2041-8205
DOI
10.3847/2041-8213/ac75e7
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4b27cf5e-03ef-467a-9e91-159cbb0c49a2
date added to LUP
2022-09-26 15:43:06
date last changed
2024-04-18 09:52:52
@article{4b27cf5e-03ef-467a-9e91-159cbb0c49a2,
  abstract     = {{<p>The origins of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are still debated. Some of the leading scenarios involve a double detonation in double white dwarf (WD) systems. In these scenarios, helium shell detonation occurs on top of a carbon-oxygen (CO) WD, which then drives the detonation of the CO core, producing an SN Ia. Extensive studies have been done on the possibility of a double helium detonation, following a dynamical helium mass-transfer phase onto a CO-WD. However, 3D self-consistent modeling of the double-WD system, the mass transfer, and the helium shell detonation have been little studied. Here we use 3D hydrodynamical simulations to explore this case in which a helium detonation occurs near the point of Roche lobe overflow of the donor WD and may lead to an SN Ia through the dynamically driven double-degenerate double-detonation (D6) mechanism. We find that the helium layer of the accreting primary WD does undergo a detonation, while the underlying CO core does not, leading to an extremely rapid and faint nova-like transient instead of a luminous SN Ia event. This failed core detonation suggests that D6 SNe Ia may be restricted to the most massive CO primary WDs. We highlight the nucleosynthesis of the long-lived radioisotope 44Ti during explosive helium burning, which may serve as a hallmark both of successful as well as failed D6 events, which subsequently detonate as classical double-degenerate mergers. </p>}},
  author       = {{Roy, Niranjan C. and Tiwari, Vishal and Bobrick, Alexey and Kosakowski, Daniel and Fisher, Robert and Perets, Hagai B. and Kashyap, Rahul and Lorén-Aguilar, Pablo and García-Berro, Enrique}},
  issn         = {{2041-8205}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{IOP Publishing}},
  series       = {{Astrophysical Journal Letters}},
  title        = {{3D Hydrodynamical Simulations of Helium-ignited Double-degenerate White Dwarf Mergers}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac75e7}},
  doi          = {{10.3847/2041-8213/ac75e7}},
  volume       = {{932}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}