Abstract
We explore collisions between two white dwarfs as a pathway for making Type Ia supernovae (SNIa). White dwarf number densities in globular clusters allow 10-100, redshift ≲1 collisions per year, and observations by Chomiuk et al. of globular clusters in the nearby S0 galaxy NGC 7457 have detected what is likely to be a SNIa remnant. We carry out simulations of the collision between two 0.6 M⊙ white dwarfs at various impact parameters and mass resolutions. For impact parameters less than half the radius of the white dwarf, we find such collisions produce ≈ 0.4 M⊙ of56Ni, making such events potential candidates for underluminous SNIa or a new class of transients between Novae and SNIa.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | L156-L159 |
Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters |
Volume | 399 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2009 |
Keywords
- Hydrodynamics
- Nuclear reactions, nucleosynthesis, abundances
- Supernovae: general
- White dwarfs
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Space and Planetary Science