Exploring a missing link between peculiar, sub- and super-Chandrasekhar type Ia supernovae by modifying Einstein's gravity

TL;DR

This paper investigates how modifications to Einstein's gravity can explain the wide range of observed masses in type Ia supernovae, challenging the traditional Chandrasekhar limit and unifying different supernova classes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach by applying density-dependent modified gravity to white dwarfs, showing it can produce sub- and super-Chandrasekhar masses, unifying supernova observations.

Findings

Modified gravity allows white dwarf masses to be significantly below or above Chandrasekhar limit.

Unifies different classes of type Ia supernovae under a single theoretical framework.

Questions the universal validity of Einstein's gravity and the Chandrasekhar limit.

Abstract

Observations of several peculiar, under- and over-luminous type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) argue for exploding masses widely different from the Chandrasekhar-limit. We explore the modification to Einstein's gravity in white dwarfs for the first time in the literature, which shows that depending on the (density dependent) modified gravity parameter $\alpha$, chosen for the present purpose of representation, limiting mass of white dwarfs could be significantly sub- as well as super-Chandrasekhar. Hence, this unifies the apparently disjoint classes of SNeIa, establishing the importance of modified Einstein's gravity in white dwarfs. Our discovery questions both the global validity of Einstein's gravity and the uniqueness of Chandrasekhar's limit.