Using ${}^{44}$Ti Emission to Differentiate Between Thermonuclear Supernova Progenitors

Abstract

The radiosotope ${}^{44}$Ti is produced through $\alpha$-rich freezeout and explosive helium burning in type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). In this paper, we discuss how the detection of ${}^{44}$Ti, either through late-time light curves of SNe Ia, or directly via gamma rays, can uniquely constrain the origin of SNe Ia. In particular, building upon recent advances in the hydrodynamical simulation of helium-ignited double white dwarf binaries, we demonstrate that the detection of ${}^{44}$Ti in a nearby SN Ia or in a young galactic supernova remnant (SNR) can discriminate between the double-detonation and double-degenerate channels of sub-Chandrasekhar (sub-$M_{\mathrm{Ch}}$) and near-Chandrasekhar (near-$M_{\mathrm{Ch}}$) SNe Ia. In addition, we predict that the late-time light curves of calcium-rich transients are entirely dominated by ${}^{44}$Ti.

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