THE PROGENITORS OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE. I. ARE THEY SUPERSOFT SOURCES?

Journal Article · Sat Mar 20 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/712/1/728· OSTI ID:21394232

Di Stefano, R ^[1]

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1. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

In a canonical model, the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are accreting, nuclear-burning white dwarfs (NBWDs), which explode when the white dwarf reaches the Chandrasekhar mass, M{sub C} . Such massive NBWDs are hot (kT {approx} 100 eV), luminous (L {approx} 10{sup 38} erg s{sup -1}), and are potentially observable as luminous supersoft X-ray sources (SSSs). During the past several years, surveys for soft X-ray sources in external galaxies have been conducted. This paper shows that the results falsify the hypothesis that a large fraction of progenitors are NBWDs which are presently observable as SSSs. The data also place limits on sub-M{sub C} models. While SN Ia progenitors may pass through one or more phases of SSS activity, these phases are far shorter than the time needed to accrete most of the matter that brings them close to M{sub C} .

• OSTI ID: 21394232
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 712; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BINARY STARS
COSMIC RAY SOURCES
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
DWARF STARS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
EVOLUTION
GALAXIES
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MASS
MATTER
NEBULAE
PLANETARY NEBULAE
RADIATIONS
SOFT X RADIATION
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
SUPERNOVAE
VARIABLE STARS
WHITE DWARF STARS
X RADIATION