Discovery of a double detonation thermonuclear supernova progenitor

Abstract

We present the discovery of a new double detonation progenitor system consisting of a hot subdwarf B (sdB) binary with a white dwarf companion with an P=76.34179(2) min orbital period. Spectroscopic observations are consistent with an sdB star during helium core burning residing on the extreme horizontal branch. Chimera light curves are dominated by ellipsoidal deformation of the sdB star and a weak eclipse of the companion white dwarf. Combining spectroscopic and light curve fits we find a low mass sdB star, $M_{\mathrm{sdB}}=0.383\pm 0.028$ M${}_{\odot }$ with a massive white dwarf companion, $M_{\mathrm{WD}}=0.725\pm 0.026$ M${}_{\odot }$. From the eclipses we find a blackbody temperature for the white dwarf of 26,800 K resulting in a cooling age of $\approx$25 Myrs whereas our MESA model predicts an sdB age of $\approx$170 Myrs. We conclude that the sdB formed first through stable mass transfer followed by a common envelope which led to the formation of the white dwarf companion $\approx$25 Myrs ago. Using the MESA stellar evolutionary code we find that the sdB star will start mass transfer in $\approx$6 Myrs and in $\approx$60 Myrs the white dwarf will reach a total mass of $0.92$ M${}_{\odot }$ with a thick helium layer of $0.17$ M${}_{\odot }$. This will lead to a detonation that will likely destroy the white dwarf in a peculiar thermonuclear supernova. PTF1 2238+7430 is only the second confirmed candidate for a double detonation thermonuclear supernova. Using both systems we estimate that at least $\approx$1% of white dwarf thermonuclear supernovae originate from sdB+WD binaries with thick helium layers, consistent with the small number of observed peculiar thermonuclear explosions.

accepted for publication in ApJL, 14 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

References in corpus (26)

• The Gaia mission
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)
• The Zwicky Transient Facility: System Overview, Performance, and First Results
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Pulsating Variable Stars, Rotation, Convective Boundaries, and Energy Conservation
• The Zwicky Transient Facility: Data Processing, Products, and Archive
• The Zwicky Transient Facility: Science Objectives
• Rates and properties of type Ia supernovae as a function of mass and star-formation in their host galaxies
• Double-detonation sub-Chandrasekhar supernovae: can minimum helium shell masses detonate the core?
• Faint Thermonuclear Supernovae from AM Canum Venaticorum Binaries
• ULTRACAM: an ultra-fast, triple-beam CCD camera for high-speed astrophysics
• Hot subdwarf binaries from the MUCHFUSS project - Analysis of 12 new systems and a study of the short-period binary population
• He-Accreting WDs: accretion regimes and final outcomes
• Evolution of Low-Mass Helium Stars in Semidetached Binaries
• ZTF 18aaqeasu (SN 2018byg): A Massive Helium-shell Double Detonation on a Sub-Chandrasekhar Mass White Dwarf
• A hot subdwarf-white dwarf super-Chandrasekhar candidate supernova Ia progenitor
• IPAC Image Processing and Data Archiving for the Palomar Transient Factory
• A new class of Roche lobe-filling hot subdwarf binaries
• Evolutionary modelling of subdwarf B stars using MESA with the predictive mixing and convective premixing schemes
• PTF1 J082340.04+081936.5: A hot subdwarf B star with a low mass white dwarf companion in an 87 minute orbit
• The white dwarf mass-radius relation and its dependence on the hydrogen envelope
• The OmegaWhite survey for short-period variable stars - V. Discovery of an ultracompact hot subdwarf binary with a compact companion in a 44 minute orbit
• Electron Captures on ${}^{14}\mathrm{N}$ as a Trigger for Helium Shell Detonations
• Velocity limits in the thermonuclear supernova ejection scenario for hypervelocity stars and the origin of US 708
• The Evolution of Helium Star Plus Carbon-Oxygen White Dwarf Binary Systems and Implications for Diverse Stellar Transients and Hypervelocity Stars
• Predicted spatial and velocity distributions of ejected companion stars of helium accretion-induced thermonuclear supernovae
• Observational signatures of the surviving donor star in the double detonation model of Type Ia supernovae

Cited by in corpus (24)

• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Time-Dependent Convection, Energy Conservation, Automatic Differentiation, and Infrastructure
• Type Ia Supernova Explosions in Binary Systems: A Review
• The population of hot subdwarf stars studied with Gaia -- IV. Catalogues of hot subluminous stars based on Gaia EDR3
• Hot subdwarfs in close binaries observed from space I: orbital, atmospheric, and absolute parameters and the nature of their companions
• Radial velocity variability and evolution of hot subdwarf stars
• A Systematic Search for Short-period Close White Dwarf Binary Candidates Based on Gaia EDR3 Catalog and Zwicky Transient Facility Data
• Hot subdwarfs in close binaries observed from space II: Analysis of the light curves
• The OmegaWhite Survey for Short-Period Variable Stars VII: High amplitude, short period blue variables
• Orbital decay in an accreting and eclipsing 13.7 minute orbital period binary with a luminous donor
• SN 2016dsg: A Thermonuclear Explosion Involving A Thick Helium Shell
• Properties and applications of a predicted population of runaway He-sdO/B stars ejected from single degenerate He-donor SNe
• A spectroscopic and kinematic survey of fast hot subdwarfs
• He-star donor AM CVn stars and their progenitors as LISA sources
• The first massive compact companion in a wide orbit around a hot subdwarf star
• One-Dimensional Numerical Study on Ignition of the Helium Envelope in Dynamical Accretion during the Double-Degenerate Merger
• Evolution of binaries containing a hot subdwarf and a white dwarf to double white dwarfs, and double detonation supernovae with hypervelocity runaway stars
• Limiting the accretion disk light in two mass transferring hot subdwarf binaries
• Discovery of periodic variables in the hot subdwarf catalogue through a systematic search in Zwicky Transient Facility data
• X-ray observation of the Roche-lobe filling white dwarf plus hot subdwarf system ZTF J213056.71+442046.5
• From Main Sequence Binary to Blast: MESA Modeling of the Double-Detonation Progenitor PTF1~J2238+7430
• Stars on the ascending helium giant branch I. From white dwarf merger to helium giant: the evolutionary state of the rapidly rotating hot subdwarf HE 1518-0948
• Observing Orbital Decay in the Ultracompact Hot Subdwarf Binary System ZTFJ213056.71+442046.5
• Discovery of the first outbursting hot subdwarf binary: ZTF J0007+4804
• [HP99] 159 -- Properties of the first Supersoft X-ray Source with a Helium star donor