One-armed spiral instability in double-degenerate post-merger accretion disks

Increasing observational and theoretical evidence points to binary white dwarf (WD) mergers as the origin of some, if not most, normal Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). In this paper, we discuss the post-merger evolution of binary WD mergers and their relevance to the double-degenerate channel of SNe Ia....

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: kashyap, Rahul, Fisher, Robert T., García-Berro Montilla, Enrique|||0000-0002-1623-5838, Aznar-Siguán, Gabriela, Ji, Suoqing, Lorén Aguilar, Pablo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/112350
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/112350
https://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa6afb
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Stars
binaries
instabilities
methods: numerical
supernovae: general
white dwarfs
Estels
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Física
Descripción
Sumario:Increasing observational and theoretical evidence points to binary white dwarf (WD) mergers as the origin of some, if not most, normal Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). In this paper, we discuss the post-merger evolution of binary WD mergers and their relevance to the double-degenerate channel of SNe Ia. We present 3D simulations of carbon–oxygen (C/O) WD binary systems undergoing unstable mass transfer, where we vary both the total mass and the mass ratio. We demonstrate that these systems generally give rise to a one-armed gravitational spiral instability. The spiral density modes transport mass and angular momentum in the disk even in the absence of a magnetic field and are most pronounced in systems with secondary-to-primary mass ratios larger than 0.6. We further analyze carbon burning in these systems to assess the possibility of detonation. Unlike the case of a $1.1+1.0\,{M}_{\odot }$ C/O WD binary, we find that WD binary systems with lower mass and smaller mass ratios do not detonate as SNe Ia up to ~8–22 outer dynamical times. Two additional models do, however, undergo net heating, and their secular increase in temperature could possibly result in a detonation on timescales longer than those considered here.