A hypothetical explosion in which a degenerate carbon-oxygen core within a single evolved star grows toward the Chandrasekhar mass and ignites explosive carbon burning while retaining an envelope. This differs from accretion onto an already exposed white dwarf in standard Type Ia supernova scenarios. Evolutionary calculations by Doherty et al. explain the strong dependence of this proposed channel on envelope mass loss; their adopted winds remove the carbon-oxygen envelope before this outcome. It is a proposed possibility under different assumptions, rather than an established endpoint for normal stars.
New to topics? Read the docs here!