No Arabic abstract
We present a systematic survey of the capabilities of type Ia supernova explosion models starting from a number of flame seeds distributed around the center of the white dwarf star. To this end we greatly improved the resolution of the numerical simulations in the initial stages. This novel numerical approach facilitates a detailed study of multi-spot ignition scenarios with up to hundreds of ignition sparks. Two-dimensional simulations are shown to be inappropriate to study the effects of initial flame configurations. Based on a set of three-dimensional models, we conclude that multi-spot ignition scenarios may improve type Ia supernova models towards better agreement with observations. The achievable effect reaches a maximum at a limited number of flame ignition kernels as shown by the numerical models and corroborated by a simple dimensional analysis.
Supernovae of type Ia (SNe Ia) are very important for cosmography. To exclude systematic effects in linking the observed light of distant SNe Ia to the parameters of cosmological models, one has to understand the nature of supernova outbursts and to build accurate algorithms for predicting their emission. We review the recent progress of modeling the propagation of nuclear flame subject to numerous hydrodynamic instabilities inherent to the flame front. The Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability is the main process governing the corrugation of the front on the largest scales, while on the smallest scales the front propagation is controlled by the Landau-Darrieus instability. Based on several hydrodynamic explosion models, we predict the broad-band UBVI and bolometric light curves of SNe Ia, using our 1D-hydro code which models multi-group time-dependent non-equilibrium radiative transfer inside SN ejecta. We employ our new corrected treatment for line opacity in the expanding medium, which is important especially in UV and IR bands. The results are compared with the observed light curves. Especially interesting is a recent 3D-deflagration model computed at MPA, Garching, by M. Reinecke et al.
Motivated by recent models involving off-centre ignition of type Ia supernova explosions, we undertake three-dimensional time-dependent radiation transport simulations to investigate the range of bolometric light curve properties that could be observed from supernovae in which there is a lop-sided distribution of the products from nuclear burning. We consider both a grid of artificial toy models which illustrate the conceivable range of effects and a recent three-dimensional hydrodynamical explosion model. We find that observationally significant viewing angle effects are likely to arise in such supernovae and that these may have important ramifications for the interpretation of the observed diversity of type Ia supernova and the systematic uncertainties which relate to their use as standard candles in contemporary cosmology.
The explosion of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf as a Type Ia supernova is known to be sensitive to the manner in which the burning is ignited. Studies of the pre-supernova evolution suggest asymmetric, off-center ignition, and here we explore its consequences in two- and three-dimensional simulations. Compared with centrally ignited models, one-sided ignitions initially burn less and release less energy. For the distributions of ignition points studied, ignition within two hemispheres typically leads to the unbinding of the white dwarf, while ignition within a small fraction of one hemisphere does not. We also examine the spreading of the blast over the surface of the white dwarf that occurs as the first plumes of burning erupt from the star. In particular, our studies test whether the collision of strong compressional waves can trigger a detonation on the far side of the star as has been suggested by Plewa et al. (2004). The maximum temperature reached in these collisions is sensitive to how much burning and expansion has already gone on, and to the dimensionality of the calculation. Though detonations are sometimes observed in 2D models, none ever happens in the corresponding 3D calculations. Collisions between the expansion fronts of multiple bubbles also seem, in the usual case, unable to ignite a detonation. Gravitationally confined detonation is therefore not a robust mechanism for the explosion. Detonation may still be possible in these models however, either following a pulsation or by spontaneous detonation if the turbulent energy is high enough.
Upcoming high-cadence transient survey programmes will produce a wealth of observational data for Type Ia supernovae. These data sets will contain numerous events detected very early in their evolution, shortly after explosion. Here, we present synthetic light curves, calculated with the radiation hydrodynamical approach Stella for a number of different explosion models, specifically focusing on these first few days after explosion. We show that overall the early light curve evolution is similar for most of the investigated models. Characteristic imprints are induced by radioactive material located close to the surface. However, these are very similar to the signatures expected from ejecta-CSM or ejecta-companion interaction. Apart from the pure deflagration explosion models, none of our synthetic light curves exhibit the commonly assumed power-law rise. We demonstrate that this can lead to substantial errors in the determination of the time of explosion. In summary, we illustrate with our calculations that even with very early data an identification of specific explosion scenarios is challenging, if only photometric observations are available.
In this paper, we review the present state of theoretical models of thermonuclear supernovae, and compare their predicitions with the constraints derived from observations of Type Ia supernovae. The diversity of explosion mechanisms usually found in one-dimensional simulations is a direct consequence of the impossibility to resolve the flame structure under the assumption of spherical symmetry. Spherically symmetric models have been successful in explaining many of the observational features of Type Ia supernovae, but they rely on two kinds of empirical models: one that describes the behaviour of the flame on the scales unresolved by the code, and another that takes account of the evolution of the flame shape. In contrast, three-dimensional simulations are able to compute the flame shape in a self-consistent way, but they still need a model for the propagation of the flame in the scales unresolved by the code. Furthermore, in three dimensions the number of degrees of freedom of the initial configuration of the white dwarf at runaway is much larger than in one dimension. Recent simulations have shown that the sensitivity of the explosion output to the initial conditions can be extremely large. New paradigms of thermonuclear supernovae have emerged from this situation, as the Pulsating Reverse Detonation. The resolution of all these issues must rely on the predictions of observational properties of the models, and their comparison with current Type Ia supernova data, including X-ray spectra of Type Ia supernova remnants.