BURNING REGIMES OF NUCLEAR FLAMES IN SN IA EXPLOSIONS

The scaling properties and burning regimes of thermonuclear flames in Chandrasekhar mass Type Ia supernova models are discussed with a speci al emphasis on consequences for the delayed detonation scenario. We ar gue that the flame-generated turbulence is buoyancy-driven and thus co nforms to Bolgiano-Obukhov scaling instead of the previously assumed K olmogorov inertial range scaling. Predictions for the flame-surface fr actal dimension and the small scale cutoff of surface perturbations ch ange accordingly. In addition, the criterion for the transition from f lamelet burning to the distributed burning regime is reformulated and consequences for the delayed detonation scenario are noted. (C) 1997 E lsevier Science B.V.