Carbon-oxygen and oxygen-neon classical novae are Galactic⁷Li producers

We report on studies of classical nova (CN) explosions where we follow the evolution of thermonuclear runaways (TNRs) on carbon oxygen (CO) and oxygen-neon (ONe) white dwarfs (WDs). Our simulations are guided by the results of multi-dimensional studies of TNRs in WDs which find that sufficient mixing with WD core material occurs after the TNR is well underway, reaching levels of enrichment that agree with observations of CN ejecta abundances. Our results show large enrichments of⁷Be in the ejected gases implying that CNe may be responsible for a significant fraction (∼ 100 M) of the⁷Li in the galaxy (∼1000 M). In addition, the WDs in these simulations are ejecting less material than they accrete. We, therefore, predict that the WDs can grow in mass as a consequence of the TNR and CNe may be an important channel of Supernova Ia progenitors.