The Response of Model and Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flames to Curvature and Stretch

Abstract

Critically understanding the `standard candle'-like behavior of Type Ia supernovae requires understanding their explosion mechanism. One family of models for Type Ia Supernovae begins with a deflagration in a Carbon-Oxygen white dwarf which greatly accelerates through wrinkling and flame instabilities. While the planar speed and behavior of astrophysically-relevant flames is increasingly well understood, more complex behavior, such as the flame's response to stretch and curvature, has not been extensively explored in the astrophysical literature; this behavior can greatly enhance or suppress instabilities and local flame-wrinkling, which in turn can increase or decrease the bulk burning rate. In this paper, we explore the effects of curvature on both nuclear flames and simpler model flames to understand the effect of curvature on the flame structure and speed.

arXiv comment25 pages; accepted to ApJ; fixed author fields

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Cited by in corpus (12)

• A Unified Mechanism for Unconfined Deflagration-to-Detonation Transition in Terrestrial Chemical Systems and Type Ia Supernovae
• Three-dimensional Numerical Simulations of Rayleigh-Taylor Unstable Flames in Type Ia Supernovae
• Direct Numerical Simulations of Type Ia Supernovae Flames II: The Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
• Propagation of the First Flames in Type Ia Supernovae
• Direct Numerical Simulations of Type Ia Supernovae Flames I: The Landau-Darrieus Instability
• Local Ignition in Carbon/Oxygen White Dwarfs -- I: One-zone Ignition and Spherical Shock Ignition of Detonations
• Power-Law Wrinkling Turbulence-Flame Interaction Model for Astrophysical Flames
• Instability of Evaporation Fronts in the Interstellar Medium
• Multi-dimensional numerical simulations of type Ia supernova explosions
• Rayleigh-Taylor unstable flames at higher Reynolds number
• The Linear Instability of Astrophysical Flames in Magnetic Fields
• Thermal-Diffusional Instability in White Dwarf Flames: Regimes of Flame Pulsation