PROPAGATING COMBUSTION MODES OF THE NEUTRON-TO-STRANGE-MATTER CONVERSION: THE ROLE OF INSTABILITIES

Abstract

We discuss the propagation of the hypothetical "combustion" n → SQM in a dense stellar environment. We address the instabilities affecting the flame and a present new results of application to the turbulent regime. The acceleration of the flame, the possible transition to the distributed regime and a further deflagration-to-detonation mechanism are addressed. As a general result, we conclude that the burning happens in (at least) either the turbulent Rayleigh–Taylor or the distributed regime, but not in the laminar regime. In both cases the velocity of the conversion of the star is several orders of magnitude larger than u lam , making the latter irrelevant in practice for this problem. A transition to a detonation is by no means excluded; actually, it seems to be favored by the physical setting, but a definitive answer would need a full numerical simulation.