New simulations suggest that powerful internal magnetic fields could allow some white dwarfs to grow far beyond a long-established stellar mass limit.

New research suggests that some white dwarfs, the incredibly dense remnants of dead stars, could grow far heavier than a fundamental limit in astrophysics predicts. Computer simulations show that powerful internal magnetic fields may allow these objects to reach about 2.4 times the Sun’s mass, well beyond the conventional limit of roughly 1.4 solar masses.

The findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, offer a possible explanation for unusually bright stellar explosions and could have implications for how astronomers measure the expansion of the universe. They also demonstrate a potential evolutionary path through which these exceptionally massive stars could form.