Modified Einstein's gravity as a possible missing link between sub- and super-Chandrasekhar type Ia supernovae

Understand

We explore the effect of modification to Einstein's gravity in white dwarfs for the first time in the literature, to the best of our knowledge.

• This leads to significantly sub- and super-Chandrasekhar limiting masses of white dwarfs, determined by a single model parameter.
• On the other hand, type Ia supernovae (SNeIa), a key to unravel the evolutionary history of the universe, are believed to be triggered in white dwarfs having mass close to the Chandrasekhar limit.
• However, observations of several peculiar, under- and over-luminous SNeIa argue for exploding masses widely different from this limit.