Development of detonations in degenerate stars

It is now widely believed that thermal instability at the center of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf will produce a deflagration wave. In this paper, numerical analysis of the preoutburst conditions near the center of a C-O white dwarf as well as of the three stages of the thermonuclear explosion of the star (i.e., the stages of spontaneous burning front, shock formation, and postshock burning and shock amplification) is presented. It is demonstrated that when a degenerate C-O star explodes as a supernova, thermal instability may cause the thermonuclear burning front to develop into a detonation (rather than a deflagration) regime.