The Ultrafast Line-Driven Wind from the Double-Degenerate Merger Remnant WD J005311

Abstract

We systematically construct steady-state wind solutions for double-degenerate merger remnants consisting of a degenerate oxygen-neon core and an optically thick expanding envelope powered by carbon-shell burning, with winds accelerated by radiation pressure including line driving. For a given envelope composition, each solution is characterized by two eigenvalues: the degenerate core mass, $M_{\rm WD}$, and the total envelope and wind mass, $\Delta M$. We find that wind solutions exist for $M_{\rm WD} \gtrsim 1.0\,M_\odot$. For a given $M_{\rm WD}$, the solutions transition with decreasing $\Delta M$ from slow, continuum-driven winds to ultrafast, line-driven winds, forming a sequence that can be interpreted as the temporal evolution of a merger remnant. We apply these solutions to WD J005311, a Galactic double-degenerate merger-remnant candidate with an ultrafast wind of $v_{\rm w} \sim 0.05\,c$. Its luminosity, effective temperature, and mass-loss rate are consistently reproduced with $M_{\rm WD} \sim 1.15-1.25\,M_\odot$ and $\Delta M \sim (1.8-5.7)\times 10^{-3}\,M_\odot$. Combining our evolutionary analysis with observations of the surrounding nebula Pa 30 and historical records of SN 1181, we argue that WD J005311 began launching a continuum-driven wind $400-650$ yr after the putative merger and transitioned to the ultrafast-wind phase approximately $100$ yr ago. This phase is expected to continue for another $\sim 1000$ yr, during which the WD will remain below the Chandrasekhar mass and avoid collapse into a neutron star. Before the continuum-driven wind phase, the remnant may have passed through a more bloated, hydrostatic giant phase with a slower but more massive wind. Future observations of the wind nebula could test this scenario by revealing signatures of interactions between the slow, massive wind and the ultrafast wind.