Combustion in thermonuclear supernova explosions

Type Ia supernovae are associated with thermonuclear explosions of white dwarf stars. Combustion processes convert material in nuclear reactions and release the energy required to explode the stars. At the same time, they produce the radioactive species that power radiation and give rise to the formation of the observables. Therefore, the physical mechanism of the combustion processes, as reviewed here, is the key to understand these astrophysical events. Theory establishes two distinct modes of propagation for combustion fronts: subsonic deflagrations and supersonic detonations. Both are assumed to play an important role in thermonuclear supernovae. The physical nature and theoretical models of deflagrations and detonations are discussed together with numerical implementations. A particular challenge arises due to the wide range of spatial scales involved in these phenomena. Neither the combustion waves nor their interaction with fluid flow and instabilities can be directly resolved in simulations. Substantial modeling effort is required to consistently capture such effects and the corresponding techniques are discussed in detail. They form the basis of modern multidimensional hydrodynamical simulations of thermonuclear supernova explosions. The problem of deflagration-to-detonation transitions in thermonuclear supernova explosions is briefly mentioned.Comment: Author version of chapter for 'Handbook of Supernovae,' edited by A. Alsabti and P. Murdin, Springer. 24 pages, 4 figure

The Effects of Realistic Nuclear Kinetics, Dimensionality, and Resolution on Detonations in Low-Density Type Ia Supernovae Environments

Type Ia supernovae are most likely thermonuclear explosions of carbon/oxygen white dwarves in binary stellar systems. These events contribute to the chemical and dynamical evolution of their host galaxies and are essential to our understanding of the evolution of our universe through their use as cosmological distance indicators. Nearly all of the currently favored explosion scenarios for these supernovae involve detonations. However, modeling astrophysical detonations can be complicated by numerical effects related to grid resolution. In addition, the fidelity of the reaction network chosen to evolve the nuclear burning can alter the time and length scales over which the burning occurs. Multidimensional effects further complicate matters by introducing a complex cellular structure within the reaction zone. Here, we report on how these complications can affect the outcome of simulating such astrophysical detonations in the context of Type Ia supernovae

Small-scale Interaction of Turbulence with Thermonuclear Flames in Type Ia Supernovae

Microscopic turbulence-flame interactions of thermonuclear fusion flames occuring in Type Ia Supernovae were studied by means of incompressible direct numerical simulations with a highly simplified flame description. The flame is treated as a single diffusive scalar field with a nonlinear source term. It is characterized by its Prandtl number, Pr << 1, and laminar flame speed, S_L. We find that if S_L ~ u', where u' is the rms amplitude of turbulent velocity fluctuations, the local flame propagation speed does not significantly deviate from S_L even in the presence of velocity fluctuations on scales below the laminar flame thickness. This result is interpreted in the context of subgrid-scale modeling of supernova explosions and the mechanism for deflagration-detonation-transitions.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Astrophys.

Type Ia Supernova Explosion Models: Homogeneity versus Diversity

Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) are generally believed to be the result of the thermonuclear disruption of Chandrasekhar-mass carbon-oxygen white dwarfs, mainly because such thermonuclear explosions can account for the right amount of Ni-56, which is needed to explain the light curves and the late-time spectra, and the abundances of intermediate-mass nuclei which dominate the spectra near maximum light. Because of their enormous brightness and apparent homogeneity SN Ia have become an important tool to measure cosmological parameters. In this article the present understanding of the physics of thermonuclear explosions is reviewed. In particular, we focus our attention on subsonic (``deflagration'') fronts, i.e. we investigate fronts propagating by heat diffusion and convection rather than by compression. Models based upon this mode of nuclear burning have been applied very successfully to the SN Ia problem, and are able to reproduce many of their observed features remarkably well. However, the models also indicate that SN Ia may differ considerably from each other, which is of importance if they are to be used as standard candles.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. To appear in Proc. 10th Ann. Astrophys. Conf. "Cosmic Explosions", Univ. of Maryland 1999, eds. S.S. Holt and W.W. Zhan

Multi-dimensional numerical simulations of type Ia supernova explosions

The major role type Ia supernovae play in many fields of astrophysics and in particular in cosmological distance determinations calls for self-consistent models of these events. Since their mechanism is believed to crucially depend on phenomena that are inherently three-dimensional, self-consistent numerical models of type Ia supernovae must be multi-dimensional. This field has recently seen a rapid development, which is reviewed in this article. The different modeling approaches are discussed and as an illustration a particular explosion model -- the deflagration model -- in a specific numerical implementation is presented in greater detail. On this exemplary case, the procedure of validating the model on the basis of comparison with observations is discussed as well as its application to study questions arising from type Ia supernova cosmology.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figures (Fig. 6 with reduced resolution