DOUBLE-DETONATION SUB-CHANDRASEKHAR SUPERNOVAE: SYNTHETIC OBSERVABLES FOR MINIMUM HELIUM SHELL MASS MODELS

By M. Kromer, Stuart A. Sim, M. Fink, Friedrich K. Röpke, I. Seitenzahl, W. Hillebrandt. 2010

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In the double-detonation scenario for Type Ia supernovae, it is suggested that a detonation initiates in a shell of helium-rich material accreted from a companion star by a sub-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf. This shell detonation drives a shock front into the carbon–oxygen white dwarf that triggers a secondary detonation in the core. The core detonation results in a complete disruption of the white dwarf. Earlier studies concluded that this scenario has difficulties in accounting for the observed properties of Type Ia supernovae since the explosion ejecta are surrounded by the products of explosive helium burning in the shell. Recently, however, it was proposed that detonations might be possible for much less massive helium shells than previously assumed (Bildsten et al.). Moreover, it was shown that even detonations of these minimum helium shell masses robustly trigger detonations of the carbon–oxygen core (Fink et al.). Therefore, it is possible that the impact of the helium layer on observables is less than previously thought. Here, we present time-dependent multi-wavelength radiative transfer calculations for models with minimum helium shell mass and derive synthetic observables for both the optical and γ-ray spectral regions. These differ strongly from those found in earlier simulations of sub-Chandrasekhar-mass explosions in which more massive helium shells were considered. Our models predict light curves that cover both the range of brightnesses and the rise and decline times of observed Type Ia supernovae. However, their colors and spectra do not match the observations. In particular, their B − V colors are generally too red. We show that this discrepancy is mainly due to the composition of the burning products of the helium shell of the Fink et al. models which contain significant amounts of titanium and chromium. Using a toy model, we also show that the burning products of the helium shell depend crucially on its initial composition. This leads us to conclude that good agreement between sub-Chandrasekhar-mass explosions and observed Type Ia supernovae may still be feasible but further study of the shell properties is required.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cb3a2f706e7891cd1b4a88fa5c0c412e7fcb2311

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Citations in the corpus

Sub-Chandrasekhar-mass White Dwarf Detonations Revisited (2017, methodology): “…n 20 18 2 SHEN ET AL. sten et al. 2007; Shen & Bildsten 2009), coupled with the problems besetting MCh scenarios, motivated a resurgence of double detonation studies focused on the explosion of sub-MCh WDs (Fink et al. 2007, 2010; Kromer et al. 2010; Woosley & Kasen 2011; Shen & Bildsten 2014).”
Three-dimensional delayed-detonation models with nucleosynthesis for Type Ia supernovae (2012, methodology): “…channel (e.g. Livne 1990; Livne & Glasner 1990; Woosley & Weaver 1994; Höflich & Khokhlov 1996; Nugent et al. 1997; Fink et al. 2007, 2010; Kromer et al. 2010; Woosley et al. 2011) and increasing support from theorists for the double degenerate channel (Gilfanov & Bogdán 2010; Pakmor et…”
SUB-CHANDRASEKHAR MASS MODELS FOR SUPERNOVAE (2010, background): “In the multi-dimensional models studied by Kromer et al. (2010), iron group elements are ejected at significantly higher velocities on one side of the ejecta, causing these line-blanketing effects to set in even earlier (for certain viewing angles).”
Three-dimensional pure deflagration models with nucleosynthesis and synthetic observables for type ia supernovae (2013, methodology): “…abundances of the tracer particles (which have irregularly distributed coordinates) are mapped on a 2003 Cartesian grid in asymptotic velocity space with a smoothed-particlehydrodynamics-like algorithm that accurately conserves the integrated yields (for details, see Kromer et al. 2010).”
THE LONG-TERM EVOLUTION OF DOUBLE WHITE DWARF MERGERS (2011, background): “The UV line blanketing due to these elements causes the predicted spectra near peak light to be much redder than observed (Kromer et al. 2010; Sim et al. 2011).6 Furthermore, the He detonation will eject radioactive isotopes at high velocities, a feature that has never been observed in SNe Ia. 1.1.”
Supernova Type Ia progenitors from merging double white dwarfs - Using a new population synthesis model (2012, background): “If not, the main contribution to the SNIa rate comes from other channels, such as the SD scenario (e.g. supersoft sources), double detonating sub-Chandrasekhar accretors (see e.g. Kromer et al. 2010), or Kozai oscillations in triple systems (Shappee & Thompson 2012; Hamers et al. in prep.).”
HELIUM-IGNITED VIOLENT MERGERS AS A UNIFIED MODEL FOR NORMAL AND RAPIDLY DECLINING TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE (2013, unknown): “In He-accreting sub-Chandrasekhar-mass double-detonation models the spectral properties are highly sensitive to the burning products of the He shell (e.g. Kromer et al. 2010).”
NORMAL TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE FROM VIOLENT MERGERS OF WHITE DWARF BINARIES (2012, background): “For lower photon energies, the asymmetry of the ejecta is less important, sincethe optical depths are smaller and photons probe a larger fraction of the total ejecta, thereby making the observables less sensitive to line-of-sight effects (compare Kromer & Sim 2009; Kromer et al. 2010).”
3D deflagration simulations leaving bound remnants: a model for 2002cx-like Type Ia supernovae (2012, methodology): “Normal SNe Ia would then originate from other progenitors like double-degenerate mergers (e.g. Pakmor et al. 2012; Ruiter et al. 2012) or sub-Chandrasekharmass double detonations (e.g. Fink et al. 2010; Kromer et al. 2010; Woosley & Kasen 2011).”