Pulsating reverse detonation models of Type Ia supernovae. I. Detonation ignition

Abstract

Observational evidences point to a common explosion mechanism of Type Ia supernovae based on a delayed detonation of a white dwarf (WD). Although several scenarios have been proposed and explored by means of one, two, and three-dimensional simulations, the key point still is the understanding of the conditions under which a stable detonation can form in a destabilized WD. One of the possibilities that have been invoked is that an inefficient deflagration leads to the pulsation of a Chandrasekhar-mass WD, followed by formation of an accretion shock around a carbon-oxygen rich core. The accretion shock confines the core and transforms kinetic energy from the collapsing halo into thermal energy of the core, until an inward moving detonation is formed. This chain of events has been termed Pulsating Reverse Detonation (PRD). In this work we explore the robustness of the detonation ignition for different PRD models characterized by the amount of mass burned during the deflagration phase, Mdefl. The evolution of the WD up to the formation of the accretion shock has been followed with a three-dimensional hydrodynamical code with nuclear reactions turned off. We found that detonation conditions are achieved for a wide range of Mdefl. However, if the nuclear energy released during the deflagration phase is close to the WD binding energy (∼0.46 × 1051 erg ? Mdefl ∼ 0.30 M⊙) the accretion shock cannot heat and confine the core efficiently and detonation conditions are not robustly achieved.