ABSTRACT Double detonations of sub-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarfs are a promising explosion scenario for Type Ia supernovae, whereby a detonation in a surface helium shell triggers a secondary detonation in a carbon-oxygen core. Recent work has shown that low-mass helium shell models reproduce observations of normal SNe Ia. We present 3D radiative transfer simulations for a suite of 3D simulations of the double detonation explosion scenario for a range of shell and core masses. We find light curves broadly able to reproduce the faint end of the width–luminosity relation shown by SNe Ia, however, we find that all of our models show extremely red colours, not observed in normal SNe Ia. This includes our lowest mass helium shell model. We find clear Ti ii absorption features in the model spectra, which would lead to classification as peculiar SNe Ia, as well as line blanketing in some lines of sight by singly ionized Cr and Fe-peak elements. Our radiative transfer simulations show that these explosion models remain promising to explain peculiar SNe Ia. Future full non-LTE simulations may improve the agreement of these explosion models with observations of normal SNe Ia.
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Models of pulsationally assisted gravitationally confined detonations with different ignition conditions
Over the past decades, many explosion scenarios for Type Ia supernovae have been proposed and investigated including various combinations of deflagrations and detonations in white dwarfs of different masses up to the Chandrasekhar mass. One of these is the gravitationally confined detonation model. In this case a weak deflagration burns to the surface, wraps around the bound core, and collides at the antipode. A subsequent detonation is then initiated in the collision area. Since the parameter space for this scenario, that is, varying central densities and ignition geometries, has not been studied in detail, we used pure deflagration models of a previous parameter study dedicated to Type Iax supernovae as initial models to investigate the gravitationally confined detonation scenario. We aim to judge whether this channel can account for one of the many subgroups of Type Ia supernovae, or even normal events. To this end, we employed a comprehensive pipeline for three-dimensional Type Ia supernova modeling that consists of hydrodynamic explosion simulations, nuclear network calculations, and radiative transfer. The observables extracted from the radiative transfer are then compared to observed light curves and spectra. The study produces a wide range in masses of synthesized 56 Ni ranging from 0.257 to 1.057 M ⊙ , and, thus, can potentially account for subluminous as well as overluminous Type Ia supernovae in terms of brightness. However, a rough agreement with observed light curves and spectra can only be found for 91T-like objects. Although several discrepancies remain, we conclude that the gravitationally confined detonation model cannot be ruled out as a mechanism to produce 91T-like objects. However, the models do not provide a good explanation for either normal Type Ia supernovae or Type Iax supernovae.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1927130
- PAR ID:
- 10358343
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Astronomy & Astrophysics
- Volume:
- 659
- ISSN:
- 0004-6361
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- A27
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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