3D Hydrodynamical Simulations of Helium-ignited Double-degenerate White Dwarf Mergers

Abstract

The origins of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are still debated. Some of the leading scenarios involve a double detonation in double white dwarf (WD) systems. In these scenarios, helium shell detonation occurs on top of a carbon-oxygen (CO) WD, which then drives the detonation of the CO core, producing an SN Ia. Extensive studies have been done on the possibility of a double helium detonation, following a dynamical helium mass-transfer phase onto a CO-WD. However, 3D self-consistent modeling of the double-WD system, the mass transfer, and the helium shell detonation have been little studied. Here we use 3D hydrodynamical simulations to explore this case in which a helium detonation occurs near the point of Roche lobe overflow of the donor WD and may lead to an SN Ia through the dynamically driven double-degenerate double-detonation (D6) mechanism. We find that the helium layer of the accreting primary WD does undergo a detonation, while the underlying CO core does not, leading to an extremely rapid and faint nova-like transient instead of a luminous SN Ia event. This failed core detonation suggests that D6 SNe Ia may be restricted to the most massive CO primary WDs. We highlight the nucleosynthesis of the long-lived radioisotope 44 Ti during explosive helium burning, which may serve as a hallmark both of successful as well as failed D6 events, which subsequently detonate as classical double-degenerate mergers.