Building initial models of rotating white dwarfs with SPH

Abstract

A general procedure to build self-gravitational, rotating equilibrium structures with the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) technique does not exist. In particular, obtaining stable rotating configurations for white dwarf (WD) stars is currently a major drawback of many astrophysical simulations. Rotating WDs with low internal temperatures are connected with both, explosive and implosive scenarios such as type Ia supernova explosions or neutron stars formation. Simulations of these events with SPH codes demand stable enough particle configurations as initial models. In this work we have developed and tested a relaxation method to obtain equilibrium configurations of rotating WDs. This method is straightforward and takes advantage of the excellent mass and angular momentum conservation properties of the SPH technique. Although we focus on rigid rotation and its potential applications to several Type Ia supernova scenarios, we also show that our proposal is also able to provide good initial models in differential rotation, which has the potential to benefit many other types of simulations where rotation plays a capital role, like disk evolution and stellar formation.