A New Evolutionary Channel for Type Ia Supernovae

Abstract

We show that long-period dwarf novae offer a promising route for making Type Ia supernovae. For typical dwarf nova duty cycles d ~ 0.1 - 0.01, mass is accreted by the white dwarf mainly during dwarf nova outbursts at rates allowing steady nuclear burning of most of the accreted matter. Mass gains up to ~ 0.4 Msun are possible in this way. Although these are too small to allow a 0.7 Msun WD to reach the Chandrasekhar mass, they are sufficient if the WD grew to ~ 1 Msun in a previous episode of thermal-timescale mass transfer, i.e. for those long-period dwarf novae which descend from supersoft binaries. A further advantage of this picture is that the supernova always occurs in a binary of small secondary/primary mass ratio, with the secondary having very little remaining hydrogen. Both features greatly reduce the possibility of hydrogen contamination of the supernova ejecta.