Type Ia Supernovae and their Explosive Nucleosynthesis: Constraints on Progenitors

TL;DR

This paper reviews the explosion physics and chemical signatures of Type Ia supernovae to help determine whether their progenitors are near- or sub-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarfs, using observational data and modeling comparisons.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of explosion models and observational evidence to constrain the nature of Type Ia supernova progenitors.

Findings

Observational data support both progenitor models.

Chemical abundance patterns differ between models.

Model-data comparisons help identify likely progenitors.

Abstract

What the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are, whether they are near-Chandrasekhar mass or sub-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarfs, has been the matter of debate for decades. Various observational hints are supporting both models as the main progenitors. In this paper, we review the explosion physics and the chemical abundance patterns of SNe Ia from these two classes of progenitors. We will discuss how the observational data of SNe Ia, their remnants, the Milky Way Galaxy, and galactic clusters can help us to determine the essential features where numerical models of SNe Ia need to match.