No Arabic abstract
Thermonuclear supernovae (SNe), a subset of which are the highly important SNe Type,Ia, remain one of the more poorly understood phenomena known to modern astrophysics. In recent years, the single degenerate helium (He) donor channel, where a white dwarf star (WD) accretes He-rich matter from a hydrogen-depleted companion, has emerged as a promising candidate progenitor scenario for these events. An unresolved question in this scenario is the fate of the companion star, which would be evident as a runaway hot subdwarf (He sdO/B) in the aftermath of the SN event. Previous studies have shown that the kinematic properties of an ejected companion provide an opportunity to closer examination of the properties of an SN progenitor system. However, with the number of observed objects not matching predictions by theory, the viability of this mechanism is called into question. In this study, we first synthesize a population of companion stars ejected by the aforementioned mechanism, taking into account predicted ejection velocities, inferred population density in the Galactic (Gal.) mass distribution and subsequent kinematics in the Gal. potential. We then discuss the astrometric properties of this population. We present $10^{6}$ individual ejection trajectories, numerically computed with a newly developed, lightweight simulation framework. A peak in the density distribution for close objects is expected in the direction of the Gal. center. If the entire considered mass range is realized, the radial velocity distribution should show a peak at 500kms. If only close US,708 analogues are considered, there should be a peak at ($sim750-850$)kms. We show that the puzzling lack of confirmed surviving companion stars of thermonuclear SNe, though possibly an observation-related selection effect, may indicate a selection against high mass donors in the SD He donor channel. (-abridged-)
Hot subdwarf stars (sdO/Bs) are evolved core helium-burning stars with very thin hydrogen envelopes, which can be formed by common envelope ejection. Close sdB binaries with massive white dwarf (WD) companions are potential progenitors of thermonuclear supernovae type Ia (SN~Ia). We discovered such a progenitor candidate as well as a candidate for a surviving companion star, which escapes from the Galaxy. More candidates for both types of objects have been found by crossmatching known sdB stars with proper motion and light curve catalogues. We found 72 sdO/B candidates with high Galactic restframe velocities, 12 of them might be unbound to our Galaxy. Furthermore, we discovered the second-most compact sdB+WD binary known. However, due to the low mass of the WD companion, it is unlikely to be a SN,Ia progenitor.
We perform binary evolution calculations on helium star - carbon-oxygen white dwarf (CO WD) binaries using the stellar evolution code MESA. This single degenerate channel may contribute significantly to thermonuclear supernovae at short delay times. We examine the thermal-timescale mass transfer from a 1.1 - 2.0 $M_{odot}$ helium star to a 0.90 - 1.05 $M_{odot}$ CO WD for initial orbital periods in the range 0.05 - 1 day. Systems in this range may produce a thermonuclear supernova, helium novae, a helium star - oxygen-neon WD binary, or a detached double CO WD binary. Our time-dependent calculations that resolve the stellar structures of both binary components allow accurate distinction between the eventual formation of a thermonuclear supernova (via central ignition of carbon burning) and that of an ONe WD (in the case of off-center ignition). Furthermore, we investigate the effect of a slow WD wind which implies a specific angular momentum loss from the binary that is larger than typically assumed. We find that this does not significantly alter the region of parameter space over which systems evolve toward thermonuclear supernovae. Our determination of the correspondence between initial binary parameters and the final outcome informs population synthesis studies of the contribution of the helium donor channel to thermonuclear supernovae. In addition, we constrain the orbital properties and observable stellar properties of the progenitor binaries of thermonuclear supernovae and helium novae.
Much difficulty has so far prevented the emergence of a consistent scenario for the origin of Type Ib and Ic supernovae (SNe). Here, we follow a heuristic approach by examining the fate of helium stars in the mass range 4 to 12Msun, which presumably form in interacting binaries. The helium stars are evolved using stellar wind mass loss rates that agree with observations, and which reproduce the observed luminosity range of galactic WR stars, leading to stellar masses at core collapse in the range 3-5.5Msun. We then explode these models adopting an explosion energy proportional to the ejecta mass, roughly consistent with theoretical predictions. We impose a fixed 56Ni mass and strong mixing. The SN radiation from 3 to 100d is computed self-consistently starting from the input stellar models using the time-dependent non-local thermodynamic equilibrium radiative-transfer code CMFGEN. By design, our fiducial models yield similar light curves, with a rise time of ~20d and a peak luminosity of ~10^42.2erg/s, in line with representative SNe Ibc. The less massive progenitors retain a He-rich envelope and reproduce the color, line widths, and line strengths of a representative sample of SNe Ib, while stellar winds remove most of the helium in more massive progenitors, whose spectra match typical SNe Ic in detail. The transition between the predicted Ib-like and Ic-like spectra is continuous, but it is sharp, such that the resulting models essentially form a dichotomy. Further models computed with varying explosion energy, 56Ni mass, and long-term power injection from the remnant show that a moderate variation of these parameters can reproduce much of the diversity of SNe Ibc. We conclude that stars stripped by a binary companion can account for the vast majority of ordinary SNe Ib and Ic, and that stellar wind mass loss is the key to remove the helium envelope in SN Ic progenitors. [abridged]
The nature of the progenitors and explosion mechanism of Type Iax supernovae (SNe Iax) remain a mystery. The single-degenerate (SD) systems that involve the incomplete pure deflagration explosions of near-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs (WDs) have recently been proposed for producing SNe Iax, in which non-degenerate companions are expected to survive from SN explosions. In this work we concentrate on the main-sequence (MS) donor SD progenitor systems. By mapping the computed companion models from three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of ejecta-companion interaction into a one-dimensional stellar evolution code MESA, we investigate the long-term appearance and observational signatures of surviving MS companions of SNe Iax by tracing their post-impact evolution. Depending on different MS companion models, it is found that the shocked surviving companion stars can significantly expand and evolve to be more luminous (5-500 Lsun) for a time-scale of 10-1e4 yr. Comparing with the late-time light curve of an observed SN Iax (SN 2005hk), it is suggested that surviving MS companions of SNe Iax would expect to be visible about 1000 days after the explosion when SN itself has been faded.
The explosion energy of thermonuclear (Type Ia) supernovae is derived from the difference in nuclear binding energy liberated in the explosive fusion of light fuel nuclei, predominantly carbon and oxygen, into more tightly bound nuclear ash dominated by iron and silicon group elements. The very same explosive thermonuclear fusion event is also one of the major processes contributing to the nucleosynthesis of the heavy elements, in particular the iron-group elements. For example, most of the iron and manganese in the sun and its planetary system were produced in thermonuclear supernovae. Here, we review the physics of explosive thermonuclear burning in carbon-oxygen white dwarf material and the methodologies utilized in calculating predicted nucleosynthesis from hydrodynamic explosion models. While the dominant explosion scenario remains unclear, many aspects of the nuclear combustion and nucleosynthesis are common to all models and must occur in some form in order to produce the observed yields. We summarize the predicted nucleosynthetic yields for existing explosion models, placing particular emphasis on characteristic differences in the nucleosynthetic signatures of the different suggested scenarios leading to Type Ia supernovae. Following this, we discuss how these signatures compare with observations of several individual supernovae, remnants, and the composition of material in our galaxy and galaxy clusters.