Sub-Chandrasekhar White Dwarf Mergers as the Progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae

Understand

Type Ia supernovae are generally thought to be due to the thermonuclear explosions of carbon-oxygen white dwarfs with masses near the Chandrasekhar mass.

• This scenario, however, has two long-standing problems.
• First, the explosions do not naturally produce the correct mix of elements, but have to be finely tuned to proceed from sub-sonic deflagration to super-sonic detonation.
• Second, population models and observations give formation rates of near-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs that are far too small.