Supernovae and the Arrow of Time

Abstract

Supernovae are explosions of stars and are a central problem in astrophysics. Rayleigh– Taylor (RT) and Richtmyer–Meshkov (RM) instabilities develop during the star’s explosion and lead to intense interfacial RT/RM mixing of the star materials. We handle the mathematical challenges of the RT/RM problem based on the group theory approach. We directly link the conservation laws governing RT/RM dynamics to the symmetry‐based momentum model, derive the model parameters, and find the analytical solutions and characteristics of RT/RM dynamics with variable accelerations in the linear, nonlinear and mixing regimes. The theory outcomes explain the astro-physical observations and yield the design of laboratory experiments. They suggest that supernova evolution is a non‐equilibrium process directed by the arrow of time.