Off-Center Carbon Ignition in Rapidly Rotating, Accreting Carbon-Oxygen White Dwarfs

We study the effect of stellar rotation on the carbon ignition in a carbonoxygen white dwarf accreting CO-rich matter. Including the effect of the centrifugal force of rotation, we have calculated evolutionary models up to the carbon ignition for various accretion rates. The rotation velocity at the stellar surface is set to be the Keplerian velocity. The angular velocity in the stellar interior is determined by taking into account the transport of angular momentum due to turbulent viscosity. We have found that an off-center carbon ignition occurs even when the effect of stellar rotation is included if the accretion rate is sufficiently high; the critical accretion rate for the off-center ignition is hardly changed by the effect of rotation. Rotation, however, delays the ignition; i.e., the mass coordinate of the ignition layer and the mass of the white dwarf at the ignition are larger than those for the corresponding no-rotating model. The result supports our previous conclusion that a double-white dwarf merger would not be a progenitor of a SN Ia. Subject headings: accretion – stars: evolution – stars: rotation – supernovae: general – white dwarfs