Neutrinos from type Ia supernovae: The gravitationally confined detonation scenario

Understand

Despite their use as cosmological distance indicators and their importance in the chemical evolution of galaxies, the unequivocal identification of the progenitor systems and explosion mechanism of normal type Ia supernova (SN Ia) remains elusive.

• The leading hypothesis is that such a supernova is a thermonuclear explosion of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf, but the exact explosion mechanism is still a matter of debate.
• Observation of a galactic SN Ia would be of immense value in answering the many open questions related to these events.
• One potentially useful source of information about the explosion mechanism and progenitor is the neutrino signal.