Excluding super-soft X-ray sources as progenitors for four Type Ia supernovae in the Large Magellanic Cloud. (arXiv:1812.08799v1 [astro-ph.HE])

Excluding super-soft X-ray sources as progenitors for four Type Ia supernovae in the Large Magellanic Cloud. (arXiv:1812.08799v1 [astro-ph.HE])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kuuttila_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">J. Kuuttila</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Gilfanov_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">M. Gilfanov</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Seitenzahl_I/0/1/0/all/0/1">I. R. Seitenzahl</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Woods_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">T. E. Woods</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Vogt_F/0/1/0/all/0/1">F. P. A. Vogt</a>

Type Ia supernovae are vital to our understanding of the Universe due to
their use in measuring cosmological distances and their significance in
enriching the interstellar medium with heavy elements. They are understood to
be the thermonuclear explosions of white dwarfs, but the exact mechanism(s)
leading to these explosions remains unclear. The two competing models are the
single degenerate scenario, wherein a white dwarf accretes material from a
companion star and explodes when it reaches the Chandrasekhar limit, and the
double degenerate scenario, wherein the explosion results from a merger of two
white dwarfs. Here we report results which rule out hot, luminous progenitors
consistent with the single degenerate scenario for four young Type Ia supernova
remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Using the integral field spectrograph
WiFeS, we have searched these remnants for relic nebulae ionized by the
progenitor, which would persist for up to $sim 10^5$ years after the
explosion. We detected no such nebula around any of the remnants. By comparing
our upper limits with photoionization simulations performed using Cloudy, we
have placed stringent upper limits on the luminosities of the progenitors of
these supernova remnants. Our results add to the growing evidence disfavouring
the single degenerate scenario.

Type Ia supernovae are vital to our understanding of the Universe due to
their use in measuring cosmological distances and their significance in
enriching the interstellar medium with heavy elements. They are understood to
be the thermonuclear explosions of white dwarfs, but the exact mechanism(s)
leading to these explosions remains unclear. The two competing models are the
single degenerate scenario, wherein a white dwarf accretes material from a
companion star and explodes when it reaches the Chandrasekhar limit, and the
double degenerate scenario, wherein the explosion results from a merger of two
white dwarfs. Here we report results which rule out hot, luminous progenitors
consistent with the single degenerate scenario for four young Type Ia supernova
remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Using the integral field spectrograph
WiFeS, we have searched these remnants for relic nebulae ionized by the
progenitor, which would persist for up to $sim 10^5$ years after the
explosion. We detected no such nebula around any of the remnants. By comparing
our upper limits with photoionization simulations performed using Cloudy, we
have placed stringent upper limits on the luminosities of the progenitors of
these supernova remnants. Our results add to the growing evidence disfavouring
the single degenerate scenario.

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