Carbon Detonation and Shock‐Triggered Helium Burning in Neutron Star Superbursts
Carbon Detonation and Shock‐Triggered Helium Burning in Neutron Star Superbursts
The strong degeneracy of the 12C ignition layer on an accreting neutron star results in a hydrodynamic thermonuclear runaway, in which the nuclear heating time becomes shorter than the local dynamical time. We model the resulting combustion wave during these superbursts as an upward-propagating detonation. We solve the reactive fluid …