Type Ia Supernovae: An Examination of Potential Progenitors and the Redshift Distribution

Abstract

We examine the possibility that Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are produced by white dwarfs accreting from Roche lobe filling evolved companions, under the assumption that a strong optically thick stellar wind from the accretor is able to stabilize the mass transfer. We show that if a mass-transfer phase on a thermal timescale precedes a nuclear-burning driven phase, then such systems (of which the supersoft X-ray sources are a subgroup) can account for about 10% of the inferred SNe Ia rate. In addition, we examine the cosmic history of the supernova rate and show that the ratio of the rate of SNe Ia to the rate of supernovae produced by massive stars (supernovae of Types II, Ib, Ic) should increase from about z = 1 toward lower redshifts.