Speaker
Ken Shen
Description
Standard Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) progenitor scenarios have
encountered increasing opposition in
the past decade from both theoretical and observational
constraints. In this talk, I will describe a
new scenario that has risen to the challenge, which invokes
two white dwarfs that begin to merge
unstably, triggering a helium-powered detonation that then
transforms into a carbon-powered
detonation and subsequent SN Ia. This "dynamically-driven
double degenerate double detonation"
scenario has the potential to explain the bulk of normal SNe
Ia and finally solve the long-sought
identity of SN Ia progenitors.
