{
  "id": "2103.02122",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2021-03-03T01:37:02.000Z",
  "updated": "2021-03-03T01:37:02.000Z",
  "title": "Actinide crystallization and fission reactions in cooling white dwarf stars",
  "authors": [
    "C. J. Horowitz",
    "M. E. Caplan"
  ],
  "comment": "8 pages, 6 figures total including Appendix, Phys. Rev. Let. in press",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.SR",
    "astro-ph.HE",
    "nucl-th"
  ],
  "abstract": "The first solids that form as a cooling white dwarf (WD) starts to crystallize are expected to be greatly enriched in actinides. This is because the melting points of WD matter scale as $Z^{5/3}$ and actinides have the largest charge $Z$. We estimate that the solids may be so enriched in actinides that they could support a fission chain reaction. This reaction could ignite carbon burning and lead to the explosion of an isolated WD in a thermonuclear supernova (SN Ia). Our mechanism could potentially explain SN Ia with sub-Chandrasekhar ejecta masses and short delay times.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2021-03-03T01:37:02.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "cooling white dwarf stars",
      "fission reactions",
      "actinide crystallization",
      "sub-chandrasekhar ejecta masses",
      "potentially explain sn ia"
    ],
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 8,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}