1207.5770 (Noam Soker et al.)

Explaining the Type Ia Supernova PTF 11kx with the Core Degenerate Scenario    [PDF]

Noam Soker, Amit Kashi, Enrique Garcia-Berro, Santiago Torres, Judit Camacho

We argue that the multiple shells of circumstellar material (CSM) and the supernovae (SN) ejecta interaction with the CSM starting 59 days after the explosion of the Type Ia SN (SN Ia) PTF 11kx, are best described by the core-degenerate (CD) scenario for SN Ia. In the CD scenario the super-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarf (WD) is formed at the termination of the common envelope phase from a merger of a WD companion with the hot core of a massive asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star. In most cases the WD is destructed and accreted onto the more massive core. However, in rare cases where mergers take place when the WD is denser than the core, the core will be destructed and accreted onto the cooler WD. In such cases the explosion might occur with no appreciable delay, i.e., months to years after the termination of the common envelope (CE) phase. This, we propose, is the evolutionary route that lead to the explosion of PTF 11kx. The CD scenario can account for the very massive CSM within ~1000 AU of the exploding PTF 11kx star, for the presence of hydrogen, and for the presence of shells in the CSM.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1207.5770