Dark Matter Ignition of Type Ia Supernovae

Joseph Bramante
Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 141301 – Published 29 September 2015

Abstract

Recent studies of low redshift type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) indicate that half explode from less than Chandrasekhar mass white dwarfs, implying ignition must proceed from something besides the canonical criticality of Chandrasekhar mass SN Ia progenitors. We show that 1–100 PeV mass asymmetric dark matter, with imminently detectable nucleon scattering interactions, can accumulate to the point of self-gravitation in a white dwarf and collapse, shedding gravitational potential energy by scattering off nuclei, thereby heating the white dwarf and igniting the flame front that precedes SN Ia. We combine data on SN Ia masses with data on the ages of SN Ia–adjacent stars. This combination reveals a 2.8σ inverse correlation between SN Ia masses and ignition ages, which could result from increased capture of dark matter in 1.4 vs 1.1 solar mass white dwarfs. Future studies of SN Ia in galactic centers will provide additional tests of dark-matter-induced type Ia ignition. Remarkably, both bosonic and fermionic SN Ia–igniting dark matter also resolve the missing pulsar problem by forming black holes in 10Myr old pulsars at the center of the Milky Way.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 31 May 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.141301

© 2015 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

Authors & Affiliations

Joseph Bramante

  • Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, 225 Nieuwland Hall, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA

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Issue

Vol. 115, Iss. 14 — 2 October 2015

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