Elemental Abundances from Off-center Carbon Burning in Accreting CO White Dwarfs: Implications for SN 2021yfj-like events

Abstract

SN 2021yfj is a recently discovered interacting supernova that exhibits narrow emission lines of Si, S, and Ar, indicating the presence of circumstellar material (CSM) enriched with these elements surrounding the progenitor prior to the explosion. The origin of SN 2021yfj-like events remains uncertain. Recent work proposed that the SN 2021yfj-like events may stem from the double WD merger scenario, in which the merger of a Si-rich WD with a more massive ONe WD tidally strips about 0.3Msun of Si-rich material to form the CSM. If the merger subsequently triggers a supernova explosion, the interaction between the ejecta and the CSM can reproduce the observed light curve of SN 2021yfj. In this scenario, the progenitor system is a CO WD + He star binary, in which the CO WD accretes He-rich material from the He star. The accumulated material can trigger off-center carbon burning, potentially leading to the formation of a Si-rich WD. However, it remains unclear whether such off-center carbon burning can produce Si, S, and Ar in amounts comparable to those inferred for the CSM of SN 2021yfj. In this work, we simulate the evolution of a CO WD accreting He-rich material using time-dependent mass-accretion rates. Our results show that off-center carbon burning in the accreting CO WD can produce significant amounts of Si and S. We further found that the resulting elemental abundances are strongly affected by the initial carbon abundance of the WD. Based on our results, we suggest that the double WD merger scenario may provide a viable progenitor channel for SN 2021yfj-like events.