skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: SINGLE-DEGENERATE TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE WITHOUT HYDROGEN CONTAMINATION

Abstract

The lack of hydrogen in spectra of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) is often seen as troublesome for single-degenerate (SD) progenitor models. We argue that, since continued accretion of angular momentum can prevent explosion of the white dwarf, it may be natural for the donor stars in SD progenitors of SNe Ia to exhaust their envelopes and shrink rapidly before the explosion. This outcome seems most likely for SD SN Ia progenitors where mass transfer begins from a giant donor star and might extend to other SD systems. Not only is the amount of hydrogen left in such a system below the current detection limit, but the donor star is typically orders of magnitude smaller than its Roche lobe by the point when an SD SN Ia occurs, in which case attempts to observe collisions between SN shocks and giant donor stars seem unlikely to succeed. We consider the constraints on this model from the circumstellar structures seen in spectra of SN 2006X and suggest a novel explanation for the origin of this material.

Authors:
 [1]
  1. Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing (China)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
21560408
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 730; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/730/2/L34; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-8205
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ANGULAR MOMENTUM; HYDROGEN; MASS TRANSFER; ROCHE EQUIPOTENTIALS; SUPERNOVAE; WHITE DWARF STARS; BINARY STARS; DWARF STARS; ELEMENTS; ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS; NONMETALS; POTENTIALS; STARS; VARIABLE STARS

Citation Formats

Justham, Stephen. SINGLE-DEGENERATE TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE WITHOUT HYDROGEN CONTAMINATION. United States: N. p., 2011. Web. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/730/2/L34.
Justham, Stephen. SINGLE-DEGENERATE TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE WITHOUT HYDROGEN CONTAMINATION. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/730/2/L34
Justham, Stephen. 2011. "SINGLE-DEGENERATE TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE WITHOUT HYDROGEN CONTAMINATION". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/730/2/L34.
@article{osti_21560408,
title = {SINGLE-DEGENERATE TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE WITHOUT HYDROGEN CONTAMINATION},
author = {Justham, Stephen},
abstractNote = {The lack of hydrogen in spectra of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) is often seen as troublesome for single-degenerate (SD) progenitor models. We argue that, since continued accretion of angular momentum can prevent explosion of the white dwarf, it may be natural for the donor stars in SD progenitors of SNe Ia to exhaust their envelopes and shrink rapidly before the explosion. This outcome seems most likely for SD SN Ia progenitors where mass transfer begins from a giant donor star and might extend to other SD systems. Not only is the amount of hydrogen left in such a system below the current detection limit, but the donor star is typically orders of magnitude smaller than its Roche lobe by the point when an SD SN Ia occurs, in which case attempts to observe collisions between SN shocks and giant donor stars seem unlikely to succeed. We consider the constraints on this model from the circumstellar structures seen in spectra of SN 2006X and suggest a novel explanation for the origin of this material.},
doi = {10.1088/2041-8205/730/2/L34},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21560408}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal Letters},
issn = {2041-8205},
number = 2,
volume = 730,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011},
month = {Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011}
}