Fig. 4: Ejecta profiles after the explosion of both stars.

Slices of density (left column) and mean atomic weight (right column) of the supernova ejecta in homologous expansion for a time (t_exp) 100 s after ignition of the first helium detonation. The top row shows slices in the original plane of rotation and the bottom row shows slices perpendicular to it. The outer layers are close to spherically symmetrical, although significant deviations from spherical symmetry exist in the plane of rotation. The iron group elements (including ⁵⁶Ni) are essentially all produced in the explosion of the primary white dwarf and form a half-sphere around the ejecta of the secondary white dwarf.