The origin of intergalactic thermonuclear supernovae

The population synthesis method is used to study the possibility of explaining the appreciable fraction of the intergalactic type-Ia supernovae (SN Ia), 20 ₋₁₅ ⁺¹² %, observed in galaxy clusters (Gal-Yam et al. 2003) when close white dwarf binaries merge in the cores of globular clusters. In a typical globular cluster, the number of merging double white dwarfs does not exceed ∼10⁻¹³ per year per average cluster star in the entire evolution time of the cluster, which is a factor of ∼3 higher than that in a Milky-Way-type spiral galaxy. From 5 to 30% of the merging white dwarfs are dynamically expelled from the cluster with barycenter velocities up to 150 km s⁻¹. SN Ia explosions during the mergers of double white dwarfs in dense star clusters may account for ∼1% of the total rate of thermonuclear supernovae in the central parts of galaxy clusters if the baryon mass fraction in such star clusters is ∼0.3%.