Short Period Binary White Dwarfs: Gravitational Waves, Merger Rate, and Likely Outcomes

Colloquium

Short Period Binary White Dwarfs: Gravitational Waves, Merger Rate, and Likely Outcomes

Mukremin Kilic

University of Oklahoma

The identity of Type Ia Supernovae (SNe) Progenitors is one of the key open questions in astrophysics. Mergers of binary white dwarf stars are one of the proposed channels for the formation of SNe Ia. We have performed a targeted survey to find merging white dwarf systems, and we have increased the number of known merger systems by a factor of seven. Our sample includes systems with orbital periods as short as 12 minutes, and gravitational wave sources in the mHz frequency range. I will discuss the characteristics of this sample, their merger rate, and likely outcomes from these mergers.