On the progenitors of super-Chandrasekhar mass type Ia supernovae

Abstract

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) can be used as the standard candlelight to determine the cosmological distances because they are thought to have a uniform fuel amount. Recent observations of several overluminous SNe Ia suggest that the white dwarf masses at supernova explosion may significantly exceed the canonical Chandrasekhar mass limit. These massive white dwarfs may be supported by rapid differential rotation. Based on single degenerate model and the assumption that the white dwarf would differentially rotate when the accretion rate $\dot{M}>3\times 10^{-7}{M}_{\odot }\mathrm{y}{\mathrm{r}}^{-1}$, we have calculated the evolutions of close binaries consisting of a white dwarf and a normal companion. To include the effect of rotation, we introduce an effective mass $M_{\mathrm{eff}}$ for white dwarfs. For the donor stars with two different metallicities $Z=0.02$ and 0.001, we present the distribution of the initial donor star masses and the orbital periods of the progenitors of super-Chandrasekhar mass SNe Ia. The calculation results indicate that, for an initial massive white dwarf of $1.2M_{\odot }$, a considerable fraction of SNe Ia may result from super-Chandresekhar mass white dwarfs, but very massive ($>1.7 M_{\sun}$) white dwarfs are difficult to form, and none of them could be found in old populations. However, super-Chandrasekhar mass SNe Ia are very rare when the initial mass of white dwarfs is $1.0M_{\odot }$. Additionally, SNe Ia in low metallicity environment are more likely to be homogeneous.

8 pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (10)

• The type Ia supernova SNLS-03D3bb from a super-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf star
• A Common Explosion Mechanism for Type Ia Supernovae
• The Luminous and Carbon-Rich Supernova 2006gz: A Double Degenerate Merger?
• Young and Massive Binary Progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae and Their Circumstellar Matter
• The single-degenerate channel for the progenitor of type Ia supernovae with different metallicities
• Companion Stars of Type Ia Supernovae
• Off-center explosions of Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs: an explanation of super-bright type Ia supernovae?
• Evolving to type Ia supernovae with long delay time
• Observational Characteristics and Possible Asphericity of Over-Luminous Type Ia Supernovae
• Distribution of ${}^{56}$Ni Yields of Type Ia Supernovae and its Implication for Progenitors

Cited by in corpus (15)

• He-accreting carbon-oxygen white dwarfs and type Ia supernovae
• Modified Einstein's gravity as a possible missing link between sub- and super-Chandrasekhar type Ia supernovae
• On the evolution of rotating accreting white dwarfs and type Ia supernovae
• Super-Chandrasekhar-Mass Light Curve Models for the Highly Luminous Type Ia Supernova 2009dc
• Formation of millisecond pulsars with long orbital periods by accretion-induced collapse of white-dwarfs
• Massive white dwarfs in $f(R,L_m)$ gravity
• The Evolution of Helium Star Plus Carbon-Oxygen White Dwarf Binary Systems and Implications for Diverse Stellar Transients and Hypervelocity Stars
• Timescales for detection of super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs by gravitational wave astronomy
• Anisotropic magnetized white dwarfs: Unifying under- and over-luminous peculiar and standard type Ia supernovae
• From Out of the Blue: Swift Links 2002es-like, 2003fg-like, and Early-Time Bump Type Ia Supernovae
• WD+RG systems as the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae
• A strange star scenario for the formation of isolated millisecond pulsars
• A super-Eddington wind scenario for the progenitors of type Ia supernovae: binary population synthesis calculations
• He-shell flashes on the surface of oxygen-neon white dwarfs
• On the Formation of Eccentric Millisecond Pulsars by Accretion-induced Collapse of Massive White Dwarfs