Astrophysical Explosions: From Solar Flares to Cosmic Gamma-ray Bursts

TL;DR

This paper reviews various astrophysical explosions, their underlying physics, and recent research advances, highlighting similarities with terrestrial explosions and exploring thermonuclear and circumstellar phenomena.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive summary of astrophysical explosion types and introduces new insights into thermonuclear explosions and extended circumstellar media.

Findings

New research on thermonuclear explosions

Analysis of explosions in circumstellar media

Parallels between terrestrial and astrophysical explosion physics

Abstract

Astrophysical explosions result from the release of magnetic, gravitational, or thermonuclear energy on dynamical timescales, typically the sound-crossing time for the system. These explosions include solar and stellar flares, eruptive phenomena in accretion disks, thermonuclear combustion on the surfaces of white dwarfs and neutron stars, violent magnetic reconnection in neutron stars, thermonuclear and gravitational collapse supernovae and cosmic gamma-ray bursts, each representing a different type and amount of energy release. This paper summarizes the properties of these explosions and describes new research on thermonuclear explosions and explosions in extended circumstellar media. Parallels are drawn between studies of terrestrial and astrophysical explosions, especially the physics of the transition from deflagration to detonation. Keywords: neutron stars, black holes, supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, deflagration, detonation.