Letter to the Editor

The distributed burning regime in type Ia supernova models

Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85741 Garching, Germany e-mail: [fritz;wfh]@mpa-garching.mpg.de

Received: 4 October 2004
Accepted: 5 November 2004

Abstract

The deflagration mode of flame propagation in type Ia supernova (SN Ia) models requires a correct description of the interaction of the flame with turbulent motions. It is well-known that turbulent combustion proceeds in different regimes. For most parts of the deflagration in SNe Ia the flamelet regime applies. This has been modeled in previous multi-dimensional simulations. However, at late stages of the explosion, the flame will propagate in the so-called distributed regime. We investigate the effects of this regime on SN Ia models in a first and simplified approach and show that the trend of effects seems capable of curing some problems of current pure deflagration models.