UV emission lines in passively evolving galaxies can reveal the progenitors of type Ia supernovae
Abstract
The question of which progenitor channel can reproduce the observed rate of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) remains unresolved, the two leading models being the so-called single and double degenerate scenarios. The former implies a large population of accreting, nuclear-burning white dwarfs with photospheric temperatures T∼105-106 K during some part of their accretion history. Recently, we demonstrated that a population of accreting white dwarfs large enough to reproduce the observed SN Ia rate would contribute significantly to the ionizing radiation expected from the stellar population in early-type galaxies, now commonly observed to host spatially extended regions of neutral and ionized gas.
- Publication:
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Astrophysics and Space Science
- Pub Date:
- November 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1007/s10509-014-2070-0
- Bibcode:
- 2014Ap&SS.354...69W
- Keywords:
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- Binaries: close;
- Supernovae: general;
- White dwarfs;
- Galaxies: elliptical and lenticular;
- cD;
- X-rays: binaries