3D hydrodynamic simulations of white dwarf–main-sequence star collisions – I. Head-on collisions

Recently inaugurated telescopes, such as the MeerKAT radio telescope and the upcoming Rubin Observatory Le gac y Surv e y of Space and Time, will be able to detect millions of transient events in the night sky. Stellar collisions between white dwarfs (WDs) and main-sequence (MS) stars may be detecta...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Merwe, C.J.T. van der, Mohamed, S. S., José, Jordi, Shara, Michael, Kamiński, T.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/371452
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/371452
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Hydrodynamics
Nuclear reactions
Nucleosynthesis
Stars: mass-loss
Globular clusters: general
Descripción
Sumario:Recently inaugurated telescopes, such as the MeerKAT radio telescope and the upcoming Rubin Observatory Le gac y Surv e y of Space and Time, will be able to detect millions of transient events in the night sky. Stellar collisions between white dwarfs (WDs) and main-sequence (MS) stars may be detectable among such transients. Simulations will play a key role in characterizing these events and selecting targets for follow-up. We present 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics models of dynamical interactions between a 0 . 6 M WD and 0.3, 0.6, and 1 . 2 M MS stars within globular cluster environments. Utilizing a 34-isotope nuclear network, we investigate the energetics, gas morphologies, and mass-loss properties of these collisions for different stellar mass ratios. Our models predict an o v erabundance of 13 C, 15 N, and 17 O isotopes relative to solar abundances. Moreo v er, we find that the time-scale of the collisions is too short and maximum temperatures too low for any significant hydrogen burning or triple-alpha reactions to occur. This combined with a negligible production of elements heavier than neon may be key signatures in distinguishing these events from other transient events with similar peak bolometric luminosities ( ∼10 38 −10 41 erg s −1 ).