Deflagration of white dwarfs as a model for type-I supernovae

Carbon-oxygen white dwarfs may be the progenitors of type-I supernovae. Spherically-symmetric models of such dwarfs have been evolved from an artificial core incineration. The convectively unstable incinerated region was allowed to grow at a velocity prescribed by the mixing-length theory of convection. The mixing length can be varied to give different cases. In all the cases considered the dwarfs exploded and were totally disrupted. The calculations were stopped after the dwarf matter had gone into homologous expansion. The model with the best estimated mixing length incinerated 0.8M⊙. The energy released in burning this amount of carbon-oxygen to56Ni provides a disrupted dwarf with velocities suitable for type-I supernovae.