Tidally enhanced stellar wind: A way to make the symbiotic channel to type Ia supernova viable

Abstract

In the symbiotic (or WD+RG) channel of the single-degenerate scenario for type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), the explosions occur a relatively long time after star formation. The birthrate from this channel would be too low to account for all observed SNe Ia were it not for some mechanism to enhance the rate of accretion on to the white dwarf. A tidally enhanced stellar wind, of the type which has been postulated to explain many phenomena related to giant star evolution in binary systems, can do this. Compared to mass stripping, this model extends the space of SNe Ia progenitors to longer orbital periods and hence increases the birthrate to about 0.0069 yr-1 for the symbiotic channel. Two symbiotic stars, T CrB and RS Oph, considered to be the most likely progenitors of SNe Ia through the symbiotic channel, are well inside the period-companion mass space predicted by our models. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.