Can helium envelopes change the outcome of direct white dwarf collisions?

TL;DR

This study examines whether helium envelopes on white dwarfs influence the outcome of their collisions as potential progenitors of type Ia supernovae, finding that most collisions are unlikely to be significantly affected by helium presence.

Contribution

The paper provides the first detailed analysis of how helium shells on white dwarfs affect collision outcomes and supernova nucleosynthesis, extending previous models to include helium effects.

Findings

He detonation must propagate into the unshocked shell to affect ignition.

Minimal He shell mass depends on total WD mass for impact.

Most WD collisions are unaffected by helium shells.

Abstract

Collisions of white dwarfs (WDs) have recently been invoked as a possible mechanism for type Ia supernovae (SNIa). A pivotal feature for the viability of WD collisions as SNIa progenitors is that a significant fraction of the mass is highly compressed to the densities required for efficient $^{56}$Ni production before the ignition of the detonation wave. Previous studies have predominantly employed model WDs composed entirely of carbon-oxygen (CO), whereas WDs are expected to have a non-negligible helium envelope. Given that helium is more susceptible to explosive burning than CO under the conditions characteristic of WD collision, a legitimate concern is whether or not early time He detonation ignition can translate to early time CO detonation, thereby drastically reducing $^{56}$Ni synthesis. We investigate the role of He in determining the fate of WD collisions by performing a series of two-dimensional hydrodynamics calculations. We find that a necessary condition for non-trivial reduction of the CO ignition time is that the He detonation birthed in the contact region successfully propagates into the unshocked shell. We determine the minimal He shell mass as a function of the total WD mass that upholds this condition. Although we utilize a simplified reaction network similar to those used in previous studies, our findings are in good agreement with detailed investigations concerning the impact of network size on He shell detonations. This allows us to extend our results to the case with more realistic burning physics. Based on the comparison of these findings against evolutionary calculations of WD compositions, we conclude that most, if not all, WD collisions will not be drastically impacted by their intrinsic He components.