Pre-Explosive Observational Properties of Type Ia Supernovae

TL;DR

This paper models the pre-explosive phase of Type Ia supernovae from rotating white dwarfs, highlighting gravitational wave signals and the role of rotation in triggering explosions without mass reaching the Chandrasekhar limit.

Contribution

It introduces a new perspective on supernova ignition, emphasizing rotation-induced stability decay over mass accumulation, and predicts gravitational wave signatures for progenitor identification.

Findings

Gravitational wave emission during mass transfer can be detected by future space interferometers.

Explosion occurs due to decay of stability, not mass reaching Chandrasekhar limit.

Pre-explosive objects can be identified via UV surveys based on temperature and brightness.

Abstract

The evolutionary path of rotating CO WDs directly accreting CO-rich matter is followed up to few seconds before the explosive breakout in the framework of the Double Degenerate rotationally-driven accretion scenario. We find that the evolutionary properties depend only on the actual mass of the accreting WD and not on the previous history. We determine the expected frequency and amplitude of the gravitational wave emission, which occurs during the mass transfer process and acts as a self-tuning mechanism of the accretion process itself. The gravitational signal related to Galactic sources can be easily detected with the next generation of space-born interferometers and can provide notable constraints to the progenitor model. The expected statistical distribution of pre-explosive objects in the Galaxy is provided also in the effective temperature-apparent bolometric magnitude diagrams which can be used to identify merged DD systems via UV surveys. We emphasize that the thermonuclear explosion occurs owing to the decay of physical conditions keeping over-stable the structure above the classical Chandrasekhar limit and not by a steady increase of the WD mass up to this limit. This conclusion is independent of the evolutionary scenario for the progenitors, but it is a direct consequence of the stabilizing effect of rotation. Such an occurrence is epistemological change of the perspective in defining the ignition process in accreting WDs. Moreover, this requires a long evolutionary period (several million years) to attain the explosion after the above mentioned conditions cease to keep stable the WD. Therefore it is practically impossible to detect the trace of the exploding WD companion in recent pre-explosion frames of even very near SN Ia.