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Question on White dwarfs stealing mass in Binary systems?

So when a white dwarf accretes mass onto itself from its binary partner, what happens to that other star. Does the star just lose all its mass to the white dwarf and Disappear? Does only the surface of the star gets stolen by the white dwarf, leaving behind an exposed core. What exactly happens to the star?

If I'm not mistaken, the accretion of mass from the star causes the white dwarf to become unstable and explode in a supernova (thus ending the system, and the other star). Let me go find some links for you.

Edit:
Yes, this is known as a Type 1A supernova. Here are some links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_Ia_supernova

http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/objects/snrs/snrstext.html

and a youtube video that shows a simulation of a Type 1A supernova:

Another result could be a nova, which happens in less-extreme situations (and more commonly). There's a bit of information in the NASA link above, and wikipedia has a good page about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova

I'm not really sure what would happen if the stars were far enough apart so that the white dwarf wouldn't be able to accrete enough mass from the other star to trigger a runaway nuclear reaction (or if such a situation could exist). Perhaps someone else here can give more insight into that.

Black Holes, Neutron Stars, White Dwarfs, Space and Time

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