The violent white dwarf merger scenario for the progenitors of type Ia supernovae

Recent observations suggest that some type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) originate from the merging of two carbon-oxygen white dwarfs (CO WDs). Meanwhile, recent hydrodynamical simulations have indicated that the accretion-induced collapse may be avoided under certain conditions when double WDs merge violently. However, the properties of SNe Ia from this violent merger scenario are highly dependent on a particular mass-accretion stage, the so-called WD + He subgiant channel, during which the primary WD is able to increase its mass by accreting He-rich material from a He subgiant before the systems evolves into a double WD system. In this article, we aim to study this particular evolutionary stage systematically and give the properties of violent WD mergers. By employing the Eggleton stellar evolution code, we followed a large number of binary calculations and obtained the regions in parameter space for producing violent mergers based on the WD + He subgiant channel. According to these simulations, we found that the primary WDs can increase their mass by ~0.10-0.45 Msun during the mass-accretion stage. We then conducted a series of binary population synthesis calculations and found that the Galactic SN Ia birthrate from this channel is about 0.01-0.4*10-3 yr-1. This suggests that the violent WD mergers from this channel may only contribute to ~0.3%-10% of all SNe Ia in our Galaxy. The delay times of violent WD mergers from this channel are >1.7 Gyr, contributing to the SNe Ia in old populations. We also found that the WD + He subgiant channel is the dominent way for producing violent WD mergers that may be able to eventually explode as SNe Ia.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Merging of a CO WD and a He-rich white dwarf to produce a type Ia supernovae

Context: Although type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) play a key role in astrophysics, the companions of the exploding carbon-oxygen white dwarfs (CO WDs) are still not completely identified. It has been suggested recently that a He-rich WD (a He WD or a hybrid HeCO WD) merges with a CO WD may produce an SN Ia. This theory was based on the double-detonation model, in which the shock compression in the CO core caused by the surface explosion of the He-rich shell might lead to the explosion of the whole CO WD. However, so far, very few binary population synthesis (BPS) studies have been made on the merger scenario of a CO WD and a He-rich WD in the context of SNe Ia. Aims: We aim to systematically study the Galactic birthrates and delay-time distributions of SNe Ia based on the merger scenario of a CO WD and a He-rich WD. Methods: We performed a series of Monte Carlo BPS simulations to investigate the properties of SNe Ia from the merging of a CO WD and a He-rich WD based on the Hurley rapid binary evolution code. We also considered the influence of different metallicities on the final results. Results: From our simulations, we found that no more than 15% of all SNe Ia stem from the merger scenario of a CO WD and a He-rich WD, and their delay times range from ~110 Myr to the Hubble time. This scenario mainly contributes to SN Ia explosions with intermediate and long delay times. The present work indicates that the merger scenario of a CO WD and a He-rich WD can roughly reproduce the birthrates of SN 1991bg-like events, and cover the range of their delay times. We also found that SN Ia birthrates from this scenario would be higher for the cases with low metallicities.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Restarted Nonnegativity Preserving Tensor Splitting Methods via Relaxed Anderson Acceleration for Solving Multi-linear Systems

Multilinear systems play an important role in scientific calculations of practical problems. In this paper, we consider a tensor splitting method with a relaxed Anderson acceleration for solving multilinear systems. The new method preserves nonnegativity for every iterative step and improves the existing ones. Furthermore, the convergence analysis of the proposed method is given. The new algorithm performs effectively for numerical experiments

The progenitors of type Ia supernovae in the semidetached binaries with red giant donors

Context. The companions of the exploding carbon-oxygen white dwarfs (CO WDs) for producing type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are still not conclusively confirmed. A red-giant (RG) star has been suggested to be the mass donor of the exploding WD, named as the symbiotic channel. However, previous studies on the this channel gave a relatively low rate of SNe Ia. Aims. We aim to systematically investigate the parameter space, Galactic rates and delay time distributions of SNe Ia from the symbiotic channel by employing a revised mass-transfer prescription. Methods. We adopted an integrated mass-transfer prescription to calculate the mass-transfer process from a RG star onto the WD. In this prescription, the mass-transfer rate varies with the local material states. Results. We evolved a large number of WD+RG systems, and found that the parameter space of WD+RG systems for producing SNe Ia is significantly enlarged. This channel could produce SNe Ia with intermediate and old ages, contributing to at most 5% of all SNe Ia in the Galaxy. Our model increases the SN Ia rate from this channel by a factor of 5. We suggest that the symbiotic systems RS Oph and T CrB are strong candidates for the progenitors of SNe Ia.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure