Wind-driven evolution of white dwarf binaries to type Ia supernovae

Abstract

In the single-degenerate scenario for the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), a white dwarf rapidly accretes hydrogen- or helium-rich material from its companion star and appears as a supersoft X-ray source. This picture has been challenged by the properties of the supersoft X-ray sources with very low mass companions and the observations of several nearby SNe Ia. It has been pointed out that the X-ray radiation or the wind from the accreting white dwarf can excite winds or strip mass from the companion star, thus significantly influencing the mass transfer processes. In this paper, we perform detailed calculations of the wind-driven evolution of white dwarf binaries. We present the parameter space for the possible SN Ia progenitors and for the surviving companions after the SNe. The results show that the ex-companion stars of SNe Ia have characteristics more compatible with the observations, compared with those in the traditional single-degenerate scenario. © 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.