Abstract Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), critical for studying cosmic expansion, arise from thermonuclear explosions of white dwarfs, but their precise progenitor pathways remain unclear. Growing evidence supports the “double-degenerate scenario,” where two white dwarfs interact. The absence of nondegenerate companions capable of explaining the observed SN Ia rate, along with observations of hypervelocity white dwarfs, interpreted as surviving companions of such systems, provide compelling evidence for this scenario. Upcoming millihertz gravitational-wave observatories like the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) are expected to detect thousands of double-degenerate systems, though the most compact known candidate SN Ia progenitors produce marginally detectable signals. Here, we report observations of ATLAS J1138-5139, a binary white dwarf system with an orbital period of just 28 minutes. Our analysis reveals a 1M☉carbon–oxygen white dwarf accreting from a high-entropy helium-core white dwarf. Given its mass, the accreting carbon–oxygen white dwarf is poised to trigger a typical-luminosity SN Ia within a few million years, to evolve into a stably transferring AM Canum Venaticorum (or AM CVn) system, or undergo a merger into a massive white dwarf. ATLAS J1138-5139 provides a rare opportunity to calibrate binary evolution models by directly comparing observed orbital parameters and mass-transfer rates closer to merger than any known SN Ia progenitor. Its compact orbit ensures detectability by LISA, demonstrating the potential of millihertz gravitational-wave observatories to reveal a population of SN Ia progenitors on a Galactic scale, paving the way for multimessenger studies offering insights into the origins of these cosmologically significant explosions.
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Searching for a Hypervelocity White Dwarf SN Ia Companion: A Proper-motion Survey of SN 1006
Abstract Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are securely understood to come from the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf as a result of binary interaction, but the nature of that binary interaction and the secondary object is uncertain. Recently, a double white dwarf model known as the dynamically driven double-degenerate double-detonation (D6) model has become a promising explanation for these events. One realization of this scenario predicts that the companion may survive the explosion and reside within the remnant as a fast moving (Vpeculiar> 1000 km s−1), overluminous (L> 0.1L⊙) white dwarf. Recently, three objects that appear to have these unusual properties have been discovered in the Gaia survey. We obtained photometric observations of the SN Ia remnant SN 1006 with the Dark Energy Camera over four years to attempt to discover a similar star. We present a deep, high-precision astrometric proper-motion survey of the interior stellar population of the remnant. We rule out the existence of a high-proper-motion object consistent with our tested realization of the D6 scenario (Vtransverse> 600 km s−1withmr< 21 corresponding to an intrinsic luminosity ofL> 0.0176L⊙). We conclude that such a star does not exist within the remnant or is hidden from detection by either strong localized dust or the unlikely possibility of ejection from the binary system almost parallel to the line of sight.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1909554
- PAR ID:
- 10480717
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Astronomical Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters
- Volume:
- 933
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2041-8205
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- L31
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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