This figure shows four snapshots in time as the flame propagates initially subsonically outward reaching a specified density (green) at which point the flame transitions to a detonation. Shown in color is a reaction progress variable describing the burning of nuclear statistical quasi-equilibrium (NSQE) products to nuclear statistical equilibrium (NSE) products. The blue contour marks the separation between the previously convective core and the isothermal outer layer. Note that the scale of the right-most figure is larger than the other three.
Aaron Jackson (Stony Brook University)