White Dwarf/M Dwarf Binaries as Single Degenerate Progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae. (arXiv:1209.1021v1 [astro-ph.SR])

White Dwarf/M Dwarf Binaries as Single Degenerate Progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae. (arXiv:1209.1021v1 [astro-ph.SR]):
Limits on the companions of white dwarfs in the single degenerate scenario
for the origin of Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) have gotten increasingly tight. The
only type of non-degenerate stars that survive the limits on the companions of
SNIa in SNR 0509-67.5 and SN1572 are M dwarfs. M dwarfs have special properties
that have not been considered in most work on the progenitors of SNIa: they
have small but finite magnetic fields, and they flare frequently. These
properties are explored in the context of SNIa progenitors. White dwarf/M dwarf
pairs may be sufficiently plentiful to provide an adequate rate of explosions.
Even modest magnetic fields on the white dwarf and M dwarf will yield adequate
torques to lock the two stars together, resulting in a slowly rotating white
dwarf, with the magnetic poles pointing at one another in the orbital plane.
The mass loss will be channeled by a "magnetic bottle" connecting the two
stars, landing on a concentrated polar area on the white dwarf. This enhances
the effective rate of accretion compared to spherical accretion. Luminosity
from accretion and hydrogen burning on the surface of the white dwarf may
induce self-excited mass transfer. The combined effects of self-excited mass
loss, polar accretion, and magnetic inhibition of mixing of accretion layers
give possible means to beat the "nova limit" and grow the white dwarf to the
Chandrasekhar mass even at rather moderate mass accretion rates.