Masses of White Dwarf Binary Companions to Type Ia Supernovae Measured from Runaway Velocities

The recently proposed “dynamically driven double-degenerate double-detonation” (D6) scenario posits that Type Ia supernovae (SNe) may occur during dynamically unstable mass transfer between two white dwarfs (WDs) in a binary. This scenario predicts that the donor WD may then survive the explosion and be released as a hypervelocity runaway, opening up the exciting possibility of identifying remnant stars from D6 SNe and using them to study the physics of detonations that produce Type Ia SNe. Three candidate D6 runaway objects have been identified in Gaia data. The observable runaway velocity of these remnant objects represents their orbital speed at the time of SN detonation. The orbital dynamics and Roche lobe geometry required in the D6 scenario place specific constraints on the radius and mass of the donor WD that becomes the hypervelocity runaway. In this Letter, we calculate the radii required for D6 donor WDs as a function of the runaway velocity. Using mass–radius relations for WDs, we then constrain the masses of the donor stars as well. With measured velocities for each of the three D6 candidate objects based on Gaia EDR3, this work provides a new probe of the masses and mass ratios in WD binary systems that produce SN detonations and hypervelocity runaways.

Additional Solar System Gravitational Anomalies

This article is motivated by uncertainty in experimental determinations of the gravitational constant, G, and numerous anomalies of up to 0.5 percent in Newtonian gravitational force on bodies within the solar system. The analysis sheds new light through six natural experiments within the solar system, which draw on published reports and astrophysical databases, and involve laboratory determinations of G, orbital dynamics of the planets and the moons of Earth and Mars, and non-gravitational acceleration (NGA) of ‘Oumuamua and comets. In each case, values are known for all variables in Newton’s Law , except for the gravitational constant, G. Analyses determine the gravitational constant’s observed value, , which—across the six settings—varies with the mass of the smaller, moving body, m, so that . While further work is required, this examination shows a scale-related Newtonian gravity effect at scales from benchtop to Solar System, which contributes to the understanding of symmetry in gravity and has possible implications for Newton’s Laws, dark matter, and formation of structure in the universe.

Non-Keplerian Orbits in Dark Matter

This paper is concerned with the mathematical description of orbits that do not have a constant central gravitating mass. Instead, the attracting mass is a diffuse condensate, a situation which classical orbital dynamics has never encountered before. The famous Coma Cluster of Galaxies is embedded in Dark Matter. Condensed Neutrino Objects (CNO), which are stable assemblages of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos, are candidates for the Dark Matter. A CNO solution has been attained previously for the Coma Cluster, which allows mathematical modeling of galaxy orbital mechanics within Dark Matter, first reported here. For non-zero eccentricity galaxy orbits, each point along the trajectory sees a different gravitating central mass, akin to satellite orbits inside Earth. Mathematically, the galaxy orbits are non-Keplerian, spirographs.