On the Stability of Thermonuclear Burning Fronts in Type Ia Supernovae

Abstract

The propagation of cellularly stabilized thermonuclear flames is investigated by means of numerical simulations. In Type Ia supernova explosions the corresponding burning regime establishes at scales below the Gibson length. The cellular flame stabilization - which is a result of an interplay between the Landau-Darrieus instability and a nonlinear stabilization mechanism - is studied for the case of propagation into quiescent fuel as well as interaction with vortical fuel flows. Our simulations indicate that in thermonuclear supernova explosions stable cellular flames develop around the Gibson scale and that deflagration-to-detonation transition is unlikely to be triggered from flame evolution effects here.

6 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the IAU Colloquium 192, "Supernovae (10 years of SN1993J)", 22-26 April 2003, Valencia, Spain, Eds. J.M. Marcaide and K.W. Weiler, Springer Verlag

References in corpus (5)

• Thermonuclear Supernovae: Simulations of the Deflagration Stage and Their Implications
• Three-dimensional simulations of type Ia supernovae
• On the small-scale stability of thermonuclear flames in Type Ia supernovae
• The Cellular Burning Regime in Type Ia Supernova Explosions - I. Flame Propagation into Quiescent Fuel
• The Cellular Burning Regime in Type Ia Supernova Explosions - II. Flame Propagation into Vortical Fuel