No Arabic abstract
Since 2012, we have initiated a new idea showing that the mass of highly magnetized or modified Einsteins gravity induced white dwarfs could be significantly super-Chandrasekhar with a different mass-limit. This discovery has several important consequences, including explanation of peculiar, over-luminous type Ia supernovae, soft gamma-ray repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars without invoking extraordinarily strong, yet unobserved, magnetic fields. It further argues for a possible second standard candle. Based on simpler calculations, these white dwarfs are also shown to be much less luminous than their standard counter-parts (of low magnetic fields). This discovery altogether initiates a new field of research.
Chandrasekhar made the startling discovery about nine decades back that the mass of compact object white dwarf has a limiting value, once nuclear fusion reactions stop therein. This is the Chandrasekhar mass-limit, which is $sim1.4M_odot$ for a non-rotating non-magnetized white dwarf. On approaching this limiting mass, a white dwarf is believed to spark off with an explosion called type Ia supernova, which is considered to be a standard candle. However, observations of several over-luminous, peculiar type Ia supernovae indicate that the Chandrasekhar mass-limit to be significantly larger. By considering noncommutativity among the components of position and momentum variables, hence uncertainty in their measurements, at the quantum scales, we show that the mass of white dwarfs could be significantly super-Chandrasekhar and thereby arrive at a new mass-limit $sim 2.6M_odot$, explaining a possible origin of over-luminous peculiar type Ia supernovae. The idea of noncommutativity, apart from the Heisenbergs uncertainty principle, is there for quite sometime, without any observational proof however. Our finding offers a plausible astrophysical evidence of noncommutativity, arguing for a possible second standard candle, which has many far-reaching implications.
The indirect evidence for at least a dozen massive white dwarfs violating the Chandrasekhar mass-limit is considered to be one of the wonderful discoveries in astronomy for more than a decade. Researchers have already proposed a diverse amount of models to explain this astounding phenomenon. However, each of these models always carries some drawbacks. On the other hand, noncommutative geometry is one of the best replicas of quantum gravity, which is yet to be proved from observations. Madore introduced the idea of a fuzzy sphere to describe a formalism of noncommutative geometry. This article shows that the idea of a squashed fuzzy sphere can self-consistently explain the super-Chandrasekhar limiting mass white dwarfs. We further show that the length-scale beyond which the noncommutativity is prominent is an emergent phenomenon, and there is no prerequisite for an ad-hoc length-scale.
The idea of possible modification to gravity theory, whether it is in the Newtonian or general relativistic premises, is there for quite sometime. Based on it, astrophysical and cosmological problems are targeted to solve. But none of the Newtonian theories of modification has been performed from the first principle. Here, we modify Poissons equation and propose two possible ways to modify the law gravitation which, however, reduces to Newtons law far away from the center of source. Based on these modified Newtons laws, we attempt to solve problems lying with white dwarfs. There are observational evidences for possible violation of the Chandrasekhar mass-limit significantly: it could be sub- as well as super-Chandrasekhar. We show that modified Newtons law, either by modifying LHS or RHS of Poissons equation, can explain them.
After the prediction of many sub- and super-Chandrasekhar (at least a dozen for the latter) limiting mass white dwarfs, hence apparently peculiar class of white dwarfs, from the observations of luminosity of type Ia supernovae, researchers have proposed various models to explain these two classes of white dwarfs separately. We earlier showed that these two peculiar classes of white dwarfs, along with the regular white dwarfs, can be explained by a single form of the f(R) gravity, whose effect is significant only in the high-density regime, and it almost vanishes in the low-density regime. However, since there is no direct detection of such white dwarfs, it is difficult to single out one specific theory from the zoo of modified theories of gravity. We discuss the possibility of direct detection of such white dwarfs in gravitational wave astronomy. It is well-known that in f(R) gravity, more than two polarization modes are present. We estimate the amplitudes of all the relevant modes for the peculiar as well as the regular white dwarfs. We further discuss the possibility of their detections through future-based gravitational wave detectors, such as LISA, ALIA, DECIGO, BBO, or Einstein Telescope, and thereby put constraints or rule out various modified theories of gravity. This exploration links the theory with possible observations through gravitational wave in f(R) gravity.
Due to the increasing number of observations Type Ia supernovae are nowadays regarded as a heterogeneous class of objects consisting of several subclasses. One of the largest of these is the class of Type Iax supernovae (SNe Iax) which have been suggested to originate from pure deflagrations in CO Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs (WDs). Although a few deflagration studies have been carried out, the full diversity of the class is not captured yet. We therefore present a parameter study of single-spot ignited deflagrations with varying ignition locations, central densities, metallicities and compositions. We also explore a rigidly rotating progenitor and carry out 3D hydrodynamic simulations, nuclear network calculations and radiative transfer. The new models extend the range in brightness covered by previous studies to the lower end. Our explosions produce $^{56}$Ni masses from $5.8 times 10^{-3}$ to $9.2 times 10^{-2},M_odot$. In spite of the wide exploration of the parameter space the main characteristics of the models are primarily driven by the mass of $^{56}$Ni. Secondary parameters have too little impact to explain the observed trend among faint SNe~Iax. We report kick velocities of the bound explosion remnants from $6.9$ to $369.8,$km$,s^{-1}$. The wide exploration of the parameter space and viewing-angle effects in the radiative transfer lead to a significant spread in the synthetic observables. The trends towards the faint end of the class are, however, not reproduced. This motivates a quantification of the systematic uncertainties in the modeling procedure and the influence of the $^{56}$Ni-rich bound remnant. While the pure deflagration scenario remains a favorable explanation for bright and intermediate luminosity SNe~Iax, the possibility that SNe~Iax do not consist of a single explosion scenario needs to be considered.