Toward an Accurate Description of an Accretion-induced Collapse and the Associated Ejected Mass

Abstract

We revisit the accretion-induced collapse (AIC) process, in which a white dwarf collapses into a neutron star. We are motivated by the persistent radio source associated with the fast radio burst FRB 121102, which was explained by Waxman as a weak stellar explosion with a small (∼10 −5 M ⊙ ) mildly relativistic mass ejection that may be consistent with AIC. Additionally, the interaction of the relatively low ejected mass with a pre-collapse wind might be related to fast optical transients. The AIC is simulated with a one-dimensional, Lagrangian, Newtonian hydrodynamic code. We put an emphasis on accurately treating the equation of state and the nuclear burning, which is required for any study that attempts to accurately simulate AIC. We leave subjects such as neutrino physics and general relativity corrections for future work. Using an existing initial profile and our own initial profiles, we find that the ejected mass is ∼10 −2 to 10 −1 M ⊙ over a wide range of parameters, and we construct a simple model to explain our results.