Exploring a missing link between peculiar, sub- and super-Chandrasekhar type Ia supernovae by modifying Einstein's gravity

Abstract

Observations of several peculiar, under- and over-luminous type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) argue for exploding masses widely different from the Chandrasekhar-limit. We explore the modification to Einstein's gravity in white dwarfs for the first time in the literature, which shows that depending on the (density dependent) modified gravity parameter $\alpha$, chosen for the present purpose of representation, limiting mass of white dwarfs could be significantly sub- as well as super-Chandrasekhar. Hence, this unifies the apparently disjoint classes of SNeIa, establishing the importance of modified Einstein's gravity in white dwarfs. Our discovery questions both the global validity of Einstein's gravity and the uniqueness of Chandrasekhar's limit.