Delayed Detonation at a Single Point in Exploding White Dwarfs

Delayed detonation in an exploding white dwarf, which propagates from an off-center transition point, rather than from a spherical transition shell, is described and simulated. The differences between the results of 2D simulations and the 1D case are presented and discussed. The two dimensional effects become significant in transition density below 3.e7 g/cm^3, where the energetics, the production of Fe group elements and the symmetry of the explosion are all affected. In the 2D case the explosion is less energetic and less Ni is produced in the detonation phase of the explosion. For low transition density the reduction in Ni mass can reach 20-30 percent. The asymmetry in abundances between regions close to the transition point and regions far from that point is large, and could be a source to polarization patterns in the emitted light. We conclude that the spatial and temporal distribution of transition locations, is an important parameter which must be included in delayed detonation models for Type Ia supernovae. \Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur

The Thermonuclear Explosion Of Chandrasekhar Mass White Dwarfs

The flame born in the deep interior of a white dwarf that becomes a Type Ia supernova is subject to several instabilities. We briefly review these instabilities and the corresponding flame acceleration. We discuss the conditions necessary for each of the currently proposed explosion mechanisms and the attendant uncertainties. A grid of critical masses for detonation in the range $10^7$ - $2 \times 10^9$ g cm$^{-3}$ is calculated and its sensitivity to composition explored. Prompt detonations are physically improbable and appear unlikely on observational grounds. Simple deflagrations require some means of boosting the flame speed beyond what currently exists in the literature. ``Active turbulent combustion'' and multi-point ignition are presented as two plausible ways of doing this. A deflagration that moves at the ``Sharp-Wheeler'' speed, $0.1 g_{\rm eff} t$, is calculated in one dimension and shows that a healthy explosion is possible in a simple deflagration if the front moves with the speed of the fastest floating bubbles. The relevance of the transition to the ``distributed burning regime'' is discussed for delayed detonations. No model emerges without difficulties, but detonation in the distributed regime is plausible, will produce intermediate mass elements, and warrants further study.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures included, uses aaspp4.sty. Submitted to Ap

Detonating Failed Deflagration Model of Thermonuclear Supernovae I. Explosion Dynamics

We present a detonating failed deflagration model of Type Ia supernovae. In this model, the thermonuclear explosion of a massive white dwarf follows an off-center deflagration. We conduct a survey of asymmetric ignition configurations initiated at various distances from the stellar center. In all cases studied, we find that only a small amount of stellar fuel is consumed during deflagration phase, no explosion is obtained, and the released energy is mostly wasted on expanding the progenitor. Products of the failed deflagration quickly reach the stellar surface, polluting and strongly disturbing it. These disturbances eventually evolve into small and isolated shock-dominated regions which are rich in fuel. We consider these regions as seeds capable of forming self-sustained detonations that, ultimately, result in the thermonuclear supernova explosion. Preliminary nucleosynthesis results indicate the model supernova ejecta are typically composed of about 0.1-0.25 Msun of silicon group elements, 0.9-1.2 Msun of iron group elements, and are essentially carbon-free. The ejecta have a composite morphology, are chemically stratified, and display a modest amount of intrinsic asymmetry. The innermost layers are slightly egg-shaped with the axis ratio ~1.2-1.3 and dominated by the products of silicon burning. This central region is surrounded by a shell of silicon-group elements. The outermost layers of ejecta are highly inhomogeneous and contain products of incomplete oxygen burning with only small admixture of unburned stellar material. The explosion energies are ~1.3-1.5 10^51 erg.Comment: ApJ in press; 21 pages, 36 figures at reduced resolution; high resolution version available at http://flash.uchicago.edu/~tomek/Papers/DFD_I_r2.pd

Detailed Spectral Modeling of a 3-D Pulsating Reverse Detonation Model: Too Much Nickel

We calculate detailed NLTE synthetic spectra of a Pulsating Reverse Detonation (PRD) model, a novel explosion mechanism for Type Ia supernovae. While the hydro models are calculated in 3-D, the spectra use an angle averaged hydro model and thus some of the 3-D details are lost, but the overall average should be a good representation of the average observed spectra. We study the model at 3 epochs: maximum light, seven days prior to maximum light, and 5 days after maximum light. At maximum the defining Si II feature is prominent, but there is also a prominent C II feature, not usually observed in normal SNe Ia near maximum. We compare to the early spectrum of SN 2006D which did show a prominent C II feature, but the fit to the observations is not compelling. Finally we compare to the post-maximum UV+optical spectrum of SN 1992A. With the broad spectral coverage it is clear that the iron-peak elements on the outside of the model push too much flux to the red and thus the particular PRD realizations studied would be intrinsically far redder than observed SNe Ia. We briefly discuss variations that could improve future PRD models.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Ap