Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton Accretion in a Reactive Medium: Detonation Ignition and a Mechanism for Type Ia Supernovae

Understand

Detonation initiation in a reactive medium can be achieved by an externally created shock wave.

• Supersonic flow onto a gravitating center, known as Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton (BHL) accretion, is a natural shock wave creating process, but, to our knowledge, a reactive medium has never been considered in the literature.
• Here, we conduct an order of magnitude analysis to investigate under which conditions the shock-induced reaction zone recouples to the shock front.
• We derive three semianalytical criteria for self-sustained detonation ignition.