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SN 2018aoz is a Type Ia SN with aB-band plateau and excess emission in infant-phase light curves ≲1 day after the first light, evidencing an over-density of surface iron-peak elements as shown in our previous study. Here, we advance the constraints on the nature and origin of SN 2018aoz based on its evolution until the nebular phase. Near-peak spectroscopic features show that the SN is intermediate between two subtypes of normal Type Ia: core normal and broad line. The excess emission may be attributable to the radioactive decay of surface iron-peak elements as well as the interaction of ejecta with either the binary companion or a small torus of circumstellar material. Nebular-phase limits on Hαand Heifavor a white dwarf companion, consistent with the small companion size constrained by the low early SN luminosity, while the absence of [Oi] and Heidisfavors a violent merger of the progenitor. Of the two main explosion mechanisms proposed to explain the distribution of surface iron-peak elements in SN 2018aoz, the asymmetric Chandrasekhar-mass explosion is less consistent with the progenitor constraints and the observed blueshifts of nebular-phase [Feii] and [Niii]. The helium-shell double-detonation explosion is compatible with the observed lack of C spectral features, but current 1D models are incompatible with the infant-phase excess emission,$B_{\max }–V_{\max }$color, and weak strength of nebular-phase [Caii]. Although the explosion processes of SN 2018aoz still need to be more precisely understood, the same processes could produce a significant fraction of Type Ia SNe that appear to be normal after ∼1 day.

A numerical rotating neutron star solver is used to study the temporal evolution of accreting neutron stars using a multi‐polytrope model for the nuclear equation of state named ACB5. The solver is based on a quadrupole expansion of the metric, but confirms the results of previous works, revealing the possibility of an abrupt transition of a neutron star from a purely hadronic branch to a third‐family branch of stable hybrid stars, passing through an unstable intermediate branch. The accretion is described through a sequence of stationary rotating stellar configurations which lose angular momentum through magnetic dipole emission, while, at the same time, gaining angular momentum through mass accretion. The model has several free parameters which are inferred from observations. The mass accretion scenario is studied in dependence on the effectiveness of angular momentum transfer which determines at which spin frequency the neutron star will become unstable against gravitational collapse to the corresponding hybrid star on the stable third‐family branch. It is conceivable that the neutrino burst which accompanies the deconfinement transition may trigger a pulsar kick which results in the eccentric orbit. A consequence of the present model is the prediction of a correlation between the spin frequency of the millisecond pulsar in the eccentric orbit and its mass at birth.