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Down but not out: the white dwarf survivors of low-luminosity thermonuclear supernovae
  • Jim Fuller,
  • Ryan Foley
Jim Fuller
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Ryan Foley
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Abstract

We now know that there are a large variety of thermonuclear supernovae (SNe) with white-dwarf (WD) progenitors, of which Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are the most common class. Roughly 10–30% of WD transients are relatively fast, low-luminosity, and low-energy events that likely have different progenitors from SNe Ia. While SNe Ia should fully disrupt their progenitor WD, lower-energy explosions may not unbind the WD, leaving behind a battered and bruised star that should have distinct observational properties. Given the rate of peculiar transients, there should be \(\sim\)10\({}^{6}\) such stars in the Milky Way. Such an odd WD was recently discovered, further indicating that the Milky Way holds unique opportunities to understand peculiar transients. There should be one of these stars at the center of peculiar thermonuclear transient remnants. We propose to observe the central stars of potential WD SN remnants to search for these stars.