It is speculated that some massive black dwarfs may eventually produce supernova explosions. These will occur if pycnonuclear (density-based) fusion processes much of the star to iron, which would lower the Chandrasekhar limit for some black dwarfs below their actual mass. If this point is reached, then it would collapse and initiate runaway nuclear fusion. The most massive to explode would be near 1.35 solar masses and would take of the order of , while the least massive to explode would be about 1.16 solar masses and would take of the order , totaling around 1% of all black dwarfs. One major caveat is that proton decay would decrease the mass of a black dwarf far more rapidly than pycnonuclear processes occur, preventing any supernova explosions.