== Thermonuclear? == 

 "As described in the introduction, the results of pair creation interactions are pairs of electrons and positrons. These particles are released into the star's core and usually recombine (releasing another gamma ray) in very short time periods." 

 Surely they annihilate themselves rather than recombine? Recombine suggests to me that a particle is left when the process is over. This of course leads to the question that is the runaway reaction that blows the star apart indeed a thermonuclear event as the introduction describes or matter/antmatter annihilation? Or is the reaction primarily thermonucear driven by the increasing temperature and pressure caused by the collapse associated with increasing pair production?