Very Magnetized White Dwarfs with Axisymmetric Magnetic Field and the Importance of the Electron Capture and Pycnonuclear Fusion Reactions for their Stability

TL;DR

This study models magnetized white dwarfs using general relativity, revealing they can exceed the Chandrasekhar limit and are influenced by electron capture and pycnonuclear reactions, impacting supernova interpretations.

Contribution

It provides the first fully relativistic analysis of magnetized white dwarfs considering instabilities from electron capture and fusion reactions, showing their potential to surpass traditional mass limits.

Findings

Maximum mass around 2.14 solar masses at high magnetic fields

Magnetic fields influence white dwarf density and radius

Pycnonuclear reactions limit central density and size

Abstract

In this work, we study the properties of magnetized white dwarfs taking into account possible instabilities due to electron capture and pycnonuclear fusion reactions in the cores of such objects. The structure of white dwarfs is obtained by solving the Einstein-Maxwell equations with a poloidal magnetic field in a fully general relativistic approach. The stellar interior is composed of a regular crystal lattice made of carbon ions immersed in a degenerate relativistic electron gas. The onsets of electron capture reactions and pycnonuclear reactions are determined with and without magnetic fields. We find that magnetized white dwarfs violate the standard Chandrasekhar mass limit significantly, even when electron capture and pycnonuclear fusion reactions are present in the stellar interior. We obtain a maximum white dwarf mass of around $2.14\,M_{\odot}$ for a central magnetic field of $\sim 3.85\times 10^{14}$~G, which indicates that magnetized white dwarfs may play a role for the interpretation of superluminous type Ia supernovae. Furthermore, we show that the critical density for pycnonuclear fusion reactions limits the central white dwarf density to $9.35\times 10^9$ g/cm$^3$. As a result, equatorial radii of white dwarfs cannot be smaller than $\sim 1100$~km. Another interesting feature concerns the relationship between the central stellar density and the strength of the magnetic field at the core of a magnetized white dwarf. For high magnetic fields, we find that the central density increases (stellar radius decrease) with magnetic field strength, which makes ultramagnetized white dwarfs more compact. The opposite is the case, however, if the central magnetic field is less than $\sim 10^{13}$~G. In the latter case, the central density decreases (stellar radius increases) with central magnetic field strengths.