Gamma-ray bursts and kilonovae from the accretion-induced collapse of white dwarfs

Patrick Chi-Kit Cheong, Tetyana Pitik, Luís Felipe Longo Micchi, David Radice

Published 2024-10-14Version 1

We present the first seconds-long multidimensional general relativistic neutrino magnetohydrodynamic simulations of accretion-induced collapse (AIC) in rapidly rotating, magnetized white dwarfs (WDs). Our findings show that, with sufficiently strong initial magnetic fields and rotation, these systems can generate relativistic jets and neutron-rich outflows with properties consistent with long gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) accompanied by kilonovae, such as GRB 211211A and GRB 230703A. Notably, our models reproduce the power and duration of these LGRBs and the associated kilonovae without the need for tuning parameters. Additionally, our results suggest that the AIC of WDs could be an important site of the production for heavy $r$-process elements.