Simulating Pure Deflagrations of Hybrid C/O/Ne White Dwarf Progenitors using FLASH

Current simulations have yet to describe the entirety of the Type Ia supernova population, stellar explosions notably used as standard candles and inputs in cosmological parameter calculations. Pure deflagrations of white dwarf (WD) progenitors have been hypothesized to explain the dimmest of these, the subclass called Type Iax events, with hybrid C/O/Ne WDs producing some of the lowest ejecta masses and brightnesses. Using a state-of-the-art hybrid simulated with MESA as the input to a deflagration simulation in FLASH, we demonstrate that the coupling of this progenitor and ignition mechanism produce the expected bound remnant and ejecta, with unbound ⁵⁶Ni yields consistent with observations. As this nonlinear problem is extremely sensitive to the initial conditions, we also test a range of  ignition sizes and treatments of the stellar surface, to see how it affects the results. Finally, we discuss the challenges of simulating this subsonic incineration and expansion event, from choosing grid refinement criteria to analyzing the data.