IISc study says strong magnetic fields could allow white dwarfs to grow beyond the Chandrasekhar limit
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science have used simulations to demonstrate that strong internal magnetic fields can allow white dwarf stars to exceed the traditional Chandrasekhar mass limit. By modifying stellar evolution models, the team showed that magnetized white dwarfs can reach up to 2.4 times the mass of the Sun.
Why it matters
This discovery challenges long-standing astrophysical models and provides a potential explanation for observed over-luminous Type Ia supernovae.
Simulations by researchers of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and their collaborators show that strong internal magnetic fields could allow some white dwarfs to grow to substantially higher masses than determined by the Chandrasekhar limit.
When a dying star runs out of fuel and sheds its outer layers, its remaining core can become an approximately Earth-sized, extremely dense stellar remnant called a “white dwarf”. For a white dwarf that is not strongly rotating or magnetised, there is a well-known upper mass limit of about 1.4 times the mass of the Sun, known as the “Chandrasekhar limit”.
In one of their simulations, the researchers found that a magnetised carbon-oxygen white dwarf can reach about 2.4 times the mass of the Sun – well above the limit.
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