Beschreibung:
<jats:p>The ignition conditions, under which a thermonuclear burn wave propagates from an initial hot spot, and the characteristics of the propagating burn wave are investigated using a set of self-similar solutions. Although the self-similar solutions exist only for external density profile that decreases as ρout∝r−1, they are shown to provide natural ignition criteria and critical profiles for more general density profiles. The concept of working lines (WLs), attractors of trajectories in the ρR−T plane of propagating burn waves, is introduced for density profiles ρout∝r−ω. The WLs are found to be close and almost parallel to the ignition line (IL). The distance of the WLs from the IL is given analytically and shown to depend on all the physical processes involved. The spatial profiles of a burn wave propagating along the WLs are shown to be closely related to the self-similar critical profiles.</jats:p>