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Type Ia supernovae are the head-on collisions of white dwarfs in triple systems

TYPEAstrophysics Seminar
Speaker:Boaz Katz
Affiliation:IAS Princeton
Organizer:Hagai Perets
Date:04.04.2013
Time:11:30 - 12:30
Location:Lidow 620
Abstract:It turns out that the type Ia problem is a straightforward problem in Newtonian gravity and shock ignition which is solved from first principles. While radiation transfer is challenging, several robust tests can be made and are found to agree with observations. The most important of these tests is the Ni56 yield which is found to continuously span the range ~0.1-1 solar mass for head-on collisions of carbon oxygen white dwarfs with masses 0.5-1 solar mass, in agreement with observations of type Ia supernovae and white dwarfs.