Detonations in white dwarf dynamical interactions

TL;DR

This study uses SPH simulations to explore the outcomes of white dwarf collisions, including detonations, binary formations, and disruptions, depending on initial conditions and masses, with implications for understanding stellar phenomena.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of white dwarf collision outcomes, including detonation conditions and remnant properties, based on a large set of simulations with varied initial parameters.

Findings

Detonations occur in a significant number of simulations.

Outcome depends on initial distance and white dwarf masses.

Chemical patterns of processed material vary with impact conditions.

Abstract

In old, dense stellar systems collisions of white dwarfs are a rather frequent phenomenon. Here we present the results of a comprehensive set of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics simulations of close encounters of white dwarfs aimed to explore the outcome of the interaction and the nature of the final remnants for different initial conditions. Depending on the initial conditions and the white dwarf masses, three different outcomes are possible. Specifically, the outcome of the interaction can be either a direct or a lateral collision or the interaction can result in the formation of an eccentric binary system. In those cases in which a collision occurs, the infalling material is compressed and heated such that the physical conditions for a detonation may be reached during the most violent phases of the merger. While we find that detonations occur in a significant number of our simulations, in some of them the temperature increase in the shocked region rapidly lifts degeneracy, leading to the quenching of the burning. We thus characterize under which circumstances a detonation is likely to occur as a result of the impact of the disrupted star on the surface of the more massive white dwarf. Finally, we also study which interactions result in bound systems, and in which ones the more massive white dwarf is also disrupted as a consequence of the dynamical interaction. The sizable number of simulations performed in this work allows to find how the outcome of the interaction depends on the distance at closest approach, and on the masses of the colliding white dwarfs, and which is the chemical pattern of the nuclearly processed material. Finally, we also discuss the influence of the masses and core chemical compositions of the interacting white dwarfs and the different kinds of impact in the properties of the remnants.