Effects of a new triple-α reaction rate on the helium ignition of accreting white dwarfs

Abstract

The effects of a new triple-α reaction rate on the ignition of carbon-oxygen white dwarfs accreting helium in a binary system have been investigated. The ignition points determine the properties of a thermonuclear explosion of a Type Ia supernova. We examine the cases of different accretion rates of helium and different initial masses of the white dwarf, which was studied in detail by Nomoto [K. Nomoto, Astrophys. J. 253 (1982), 798]. We find that for all cases from slow to intermediate accretion rates, nuclear burnings are ignited at the helium layers. As a consequence, carbon deflagration would be triggered for lower accretion rate than dM/dt ≃ 4 × 10-8 M⊙ yr-1 which has been believed to be the lower limit of the accretion rate for the deflagration supernova. Furthermore, off-center helium detonation should result for intermediate and slow accretion rates, and the region of carbon deflagration for slow accretion rates disappears.