Are carbon deflagration supernovae triggered by dark matter ?

TL;DR

This paper explores the possibility that dark matter interactions, particularly primordial black holes, could trigger type Ia supernovae by heating white dwarf cores, with implications for understanding supernova distribution.

Contribution

It introduces a physical model for dark matter-induced supernova triggering and discusses how future observations could test this hypothesis.

Findings

Primordial black holes can significantly heat white dwarf cores upon collision.

Current data on supernova distribution are inconclusive regarding dark matter triggering.

Future large-scale surveys will provide data to test the dark matter supernova trigger hypothesis.

Abstract

Collisions between stellar remnants and dark matter in the Galactic bulge are frequent, and the kinetic energy of a primordial black hole incident on a white dwarf, if it is all thermalized, will raise the degenerate core's temperature, by at least a degree in the case of a lunar mass black hole. This is an underestimate in two ways: the specific heat is less than 3k/2 per particle, and the incoming object is accelerated by gravitational focusing. Detailed physical models have recently been made of this triggering event. Present observational data are equivocal as to whether the radial distribution of type Ia supernovae in galaxies follows the starlight in the galaxies, or is more concentrated towards the center, as collisional triggering would suggest. But future samples of millions of supernovae from the Rubin telescope will change that.