Accreting White Dwarfs as Supersoft X-ray Sources

TL;DR

This paper reviews how mass-accreting white dwarfs exhibit various supersoft X-ray phenomena, linking accretion rates to different observational states and their implications for type Ia supernova progenitors.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the phenomena associated with accreting white dwarfs and introduces methods to estimate their masses using multiwavelength data based on wind theory.

Findings

Nova outbursts occur at low accretion rates.

Steady hydrogen burning leads to persistent supersoft X-ray sources.

Mass estimates inform binary evolution models for type Ia supernovae.

Abstract

I review various phenomena associated with mass-accreting white dwarfs (WDs) in the view of supersoft X-ray sources. When the mass-accretion rate is low (\dot M_{acc} < a few \times 10^{-7} M_\sun yr^{-1}), hydrogen nuclear burning is unstable and nova outbursts occur. A nova is a transient supersoft X-ray source (SSS) in its later phase which timescale depends strongly on the WD mass. The X-ray turn on/off time is a good indicator of the WD mass. At an intermediate mass-accretion rate an accreting WD becomes a persistent SSS with steady hydrogen burning. For a higher mass-accretion rate, the WD undergoes "accretion wind evolution" in which the WD accretes matter from the equatorial plane and loses mass by optically thick winds from the other directions. Two SSS, namely RX J 0513-69 and V Sge, are corresponding objects to this accretion wind evolution. We can specify mass increasing WDs from light-curve analysis based on the optically thick wind theory using multiwavelength observational data including optical, IR, and supersoft X-rays. Mass estimates of individual objects give important information for the binary evolution scenario of type Ia supernovae.